


One sided duet

by UnderZeWeather



Series: AU Jam [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), Janitor Keith, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron) is a Dork, Lance (Voltron) is a Good Boyfriend, M/M, Musicals, Theater Nerd Lance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, keith is too hard on himself, lance is dumb, selectively mute Keith, shiro is a supportive brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:40:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24955456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnderZeWeather/pseuds/UnderZeWeather
Summary: Music is in their blood. Both of them enjoy the theater and all the glitz and glamour that the spot light brings. However, while one eagerly makes his way onto the stage, the other hides away in the shadows. Sometimes all it takes is a little push, a little smile, an old mask, and a playlist of music to bring them both out into the spotlight.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: AU Jam [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1893274
Comments: 32
Kudos: 90





	1. Silent song

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in Strawberry and Blueberry Jam under POTO AU. Kudos and comment when you can. Enjoy :D

Ever since Keith was young he loved singing. Music was his life. He learned how to play the piano at a young age and worked hard to name notes by ear. He could name and play every major and minor scale. He could switch between pentatonic and heptatonic scales as easily as breathing. Keith was practically a musical prodigy. He was destined for greatness… however there was one tiny thing stopping him in his tracks...

Keith had crippling social anxiety to the point he had to learn ASL to communicate. Even then his hands shook like he had a problem with his nervous system. The only people he could actually talk to was his step brother, Shiro, and his husband, Adam. And even then he only spoke in sentence fragments to Adam.

Just, talking to people scared the crap out of Keith. Even looking them in the eye made him feel like fainting. Which meant things were pretty difficult for him when it came to finding a job he wanted or could actually do. As luck would have it, Shiro co-owned a local theater with Adam and was more than willing to give Keith a job as a janitor.

Keith was eternally grateful to the two of them. Keith loved music, and due to his anxiety, this was the closest he could get to going on stage and performing. He also enjoyed his job. No one really talked to him if he had a day shift, which hardly ever happened, and if they did talk to him it was usually to tell him the bathrooms were a mess.

He liked the night shifts the best. When he locked everyone out he would happily clean the place and quietly sing whatever song he was listening to as he worked. Either over the P.A system or with his headphones on. It was the only time he felt comfortable using his own voice. He also liked being able to go through all the costumes they had in storage.

At the moment the theater was putting on a Mary Poppins musical and lots of actors were staying behind to practice lines and what not. Which meant Keith couldn’t start cleaning until they were gone. Kind of annoying, but Keith didn’t mind. The theatre drama was interesting to watch.

At the moment, the director, a man named Coran, was trying to make sure that the lead actors and actresses were able to get even matinee and evening performances. It seemed like Allura and Nyma were taking on the rolls of Mary Poppins while Lotor and Lance were playing Bert. For whatever reason this seemed to be some big issue.

He just sighed and quietly sat in the back seats while they were finishing up. This might take a while. As he patiently waited he heard the familiar footsteps of a certain sound and light engineer walking towards him. This person went by the monicore of Pidge. They were totally rocking that androgenous nerdy look. They were one of the few people he could kind of sign to without everything being too shaky.

“Sup Keith.” They greeted as they sat in the chair next to him. “Waiting to start?”

Keith nodded and signed to her. _Yes. I want to be home before ten._

It took a moment for them to read his signs with his shaking hands. “Yeah. Fair enough. It’s gonna be like this for a week or two… You excited to hear Allura sing again?”

Once again Keith nodded. _Yes. She is an amazing alto-soprano. She was good in Chicago last year. Bought the DVD just to hear her sing her part in Cell Block Tango._

Pidge nodded in agreement. “Yeah, she had a bit roll, but she was very good at it… Anyway, you wanna grab lunch tomorrow?”

Keith quickly shook his head. Pidge was nice and everything and he did like being able to talk to them a small amount, but there was no way in hell they were going to go out somewhere and eat with them. The last time he went out to eat with anyone it was with Shiro, and even then Keith spent most of the night locked in the bathroom and only came out when Shiro texted that his food had been put in a to go box.

Pidge just shrugged. “Okay. Maybe some other time?” Keith nodded a little, but didn’t didn’t really know what else to say to them. The two sat in silence for a bit before they spoke up again. “Some new actors this time. You want me to tell you about them?”

Keith glanced up at the lead actors. Nyma and Allura were already packing up and getting ready to go. Those two were always getting lead rolls or female rolls with large singing parts. Lotor had a good baritone to tenor range, and Lance, well he’d mainly sung back up ranging from baritone to alto. This was the first time he was going to be taking a lead roll. 

He shook his head and signed to Pidge. _I might be quiet, but I know more than you think. Ear to the wall and all that._

“Fair enough.” They stood up and stretched. “Well, I’m gonna tell Coran that Hunk and I are done for the evening. Shouldn’t be too long until everyone’s cleared out. Night Keith. Have fun cleaning.”

Keith nodded. _Night Pidge._

Since it looked like everyone was leaving, Keith went to the supply closet in the backstage area and started to get his supplies ready. There were a few people still packing away their own stuff. Some gave a courteous nod towards the janitor while others just ignored him. Keith didn’t mind.

He just put down a “caution wet floor” sign and got to work cleaning the backstage area. After about twenty minutes Keith assumed everyone was gone and put his earbuds in. He felt like something a little boppy. Thankfully he had a few playlists. He was about to hit play when he saw a streak of blue dash past him, slip on the wet floor and slid into the wall.

Keith jumped in shock and went to quickly help them up. It was that new lead, Lance. The young man groaned as he slowly got to his feet. “Ow… I should have watched where I was going huh?”

Keith nodded in agreement and quickly started to sign to him. _Yeah. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Do you need an ice pack or something?_

Lance stared at Keith in confusion and Keith felt his heart start to race in his chest. Lance was judging him. He didn’t know what he was saying. Lance was going to treat him like an idiot. Roll his eyes at him and maybe yell at him for starting to mop the floor before he left. Wouldn’t have been the first time people had yelled at him for that. He felt like he was going to cry if Lance started yelling at him.

“Oh? Are you deaf?” Asked Lance. “Crap, you wouldn’t have heard me say that if you are huh? Um…” He pointed to Keith and then at himself. Specifically his mouth. “Can you read lips?” He asked. “My name is Lance.”

Keith’s heart was still pounding in his chest. He hadn’t been this close to Lance before. He was surprisingly really pretty up close. He quickly made hand gestures to Lance, trying to convey he wasn’t deaf. He was mute.

Lance still looked confused, but he was trying to figure out what he was saying. “... Mute?”

Keith nodded.

“Oh shit! Sorry man. But you gotta admit when someone starts throwing hands like that you assume they are deaf, you know?”

Keith shrugged. It wasn’t the first time someone had thought he was deaf. He noticed that Lance was holding his arm and quickly pointed to it while giving him a questioning look. Lance looked down at his arm and shrugged. 

“I’m a little bruised.”

Dread quickly filled Keith. Lance was going to make a complaint. He was going to tell Coran and then Coran would tell Shiro, and Shiro would talk to him about it and get his side of the story. Sure nothing would come of it, but still he was scared of how disappointed Shiro would be in him for this whole mess. He’d get so worked up over this he might text in sick for the next day or two at this rate.

Lance seemed to notice the look of panic on Keith’s face and he quickly tried to calm him down. “Whoa, calm down. I’m fine. Really. I was the idiot. My sister just called me and told me to grab my bag and get my lazy ass outside now and… Fuck she’s still waiting…” Lance quickly grabbed a dark blue backpack and smiled at him. “Sorry about messing up your floor. I’m the idiot. Not gonna make a complaint. See you around man. Take care.” And just as quickly as he was there, Lance was gone. 

When he was gone and the whole theatre was dead silent again. Keith’s legs gave out and he slowly fell to the floor. A cute boy talked to him. A cute boy talked to him so easily like it was nothing. He wanted to scream. He ended up spending twenty minutes trying to calm himself down from a panic attack by listening to his playlist which he had aptly named “Chill the fuck out”, which was composed mostly of the sounds of nature. Things like rain, ocean noises, rainforest sounds, and bird noises.

It worked pretty well and Keith went back to cleaning. He didn’t feel like singing that night. He was too wound up and jumpy for Lance having a conversation with him and not making it too weird. But the worst part was that Lance was really cute and pretty. A really cute guy that was totally Keith’s type. 

Keith really wished he could have talked to him. But if he was being honest he hadn’t talked to anyone in a month. Not verbally anyway. He quickly started to feel anxious again, but at least it was near the end of his shift.

He texted Shiro and walked out the front for him. Twenty minutes later Shiro turned up in his car and Keith quickly got in. Shiro immediately noticed that something was wrong with him.

“Did something happen tonight?”

“Y-yes.” Said Keith, barely above a whisper. It felt weird to hear his voice after not speaking for so long. It made him frown.

“Okay. Want to talk about it? Write it down when we get home?”

Keith clenched his jaw a little as he struggled to find the words while Shiro was driving. “S-someone slipped… Wet floor… They are fine.”

Shiro nodded. “Ah, okay. Do you know who slipped?”

“Lance. Bruised arm.”

“Did he yell at you?”

Keith shook his head. “No. Grabbed his bag and left.”

“Okay… Did you get to sing today?”

Keith’s face went bright red and looked down at his lap. One time Shiro had walked in on Keith quietly singing a fallout boy song back in high school, and Keith fainted from the panic. It was like his soul just decided to try and escape his body. Shiro had told him he had a really good voice. He’d tried to encourage him to talk and sing more, but every time he tried to sing in front of people he sounded like he had an extreme throat infection and kind of sounded like a balloon leaking air.

“I’ll take that as a no? Well, next time maybe?”

Keith shrugged and picked at a loose thread on his pants. The acoustics were too good when he started singing Queen. He’d probably feel better after singing a verse or two of We Will Rock You, or at least playing it on his keyboard.

***

The next evening the theater group left relatively on time, but they had dragged the piano onto the stage this time. It made Keith grin and he decided he quickly clean backstage first before he went and played the piano.

Much to his dismay some one had made a complete mess of the costumes and so he had to spend some time cleaning that up first. Some bright spark had gone and knocked over the masks. As he put them away he happened to find one of his favourite masks; a masquerade mask from the time the theater put on Phantom of the Opera two years ago.

He had to put his hair up in a ponytail to make it fit properly, but he felt like it looked pretty good on him. He probably could have played the part of the Phantom if he could muster up more than a squeak in front of people. Wearing a mask did make him feel a little more confident. He zipped up the jacket over his work overalls and looked at himself in the mirror. A small smile played on his lips. He might not have been able to be the Phantom, but at least now he could pretend. 

Keith walked back out to the stage and sat at the piano. There was sheet music there for Mary Poppins, but one again Keith didn’t feel like musicals or show tunes. He cracked his knuckles and cleared his throat. He quickly played a few scales to warm up his fingers and warmed up his vocal chords by carefully singing each note. He played and carefully sung a few pentatonic scales (major, minor, and man gong), and a few heptatonic scales (harmonic minor, phrygian, and mixolydian).

Once he felt like he had warmed up enough he put his music onto shuffle and listened to the first few bars of the song that was randomly selected. He cracked his knuckles again and cleared his throat before he started to play.

He loved the way his fingers danced over the keys. When he played music or just listened to it the words would just come naturally to him. They just naturally fell from his lips as his anxiety had completely melted away. At least for a few minutes he could pretend he was singing for someone.

“Late at night I could hear her crying…” He sang.

***

Lance sighed a little as he stepped out of the bathroom. One day Veronica was early to pick him up and the next she was late. He just didn’t get it. His sister was a fickle mistress. He was just going to wait in the lobby when he heard someone messing around with the piano. He wasn’t sure who it was so he thought he would look in and see if someone was trying to get in some extra practice.

He saw a man in a red jacket with his hair up in a ponytail playing some scales. Lance didn’t recognise who they were from their clothes alone. They also looked like they might have been wearing a mask? Lance couldn’t tell from this angle but it seemed likely. He’d just call out to them when they were done so he could ask who they were.

Then this mystery person started to play a song and sing. Their voice was totally a tenor and damn was every note on point. He knew the song and kind of wanted to harmonize with him, but some people could be really anal about singing in front of people when they were practicing. So he just stood back and listened to him. 

He was just as good at Lotor, if not better. Maybe the guy was part of the chorus but wasn’t confident in their ability? It happened. Some theater kids were shitty assholes and really tore down the competition, but this person, they had real talent.

Lance was almost too lost in his thoughts before he realised that the mystery piano player was done and gone. “... Fuck!” He quickly got up onto the stage and looked round. They were completely gone. Like a ghost. He quickly ran backstage and almost ran into the janitor.

The poor janitor looked like he was about to have a heart attack when he saw him. Which, considering he was crouched over a bucked of chemicals, was probably a very bad thing. He looked up at Lance like he had seen a ghost.

Lance tried to be as friendly as possible. “Hey man. Did you see some guy run by?”

The janitor shook his head, still looking kind of scared. He started to sign something to him before he stopped and looked completely dejected. Maybe he was trying to ask him what they looked like? He wasn’t sure.

“Um… They were about so tall? Black hair in a ponytail, red jacket? Might have been wearing a mask?” The janitor just stared up as Lance and slowly shook his head. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Lance frowned a little and looked at the name tag on the Janitor's shirt. It said Keith. “... Your name is Keith, right?”

If anything Keith looked even more scared than he did before, but he nodded. He looked down at his name tag and nodded again. Almost trying to confirm that he is indeed Keith.

Lance smiled a little at him. “Okay. Cool. I’m going to be waiting in the lobby for my ride… If you happen to see someone fitting that description, just let me know. Okay?”

Keith nodded.

“Cool. Night Keith.” Lance happily went to the lobby and patiently waited for Veronica to pick him up. He leaned against a wall and messed around with his phone a little. He wondered who the man was that he heard singing before? They sounded so good. How could they just finish like that? Keith didn’t even see him. Well, the theater was pretty damn old. Maybe they were a ghost of something? “... Nah.”


	2. Confronting the ghost

Keith ended up having janitorial duty during the day while rehearsals were going on later in the week. Some of the urinals in the mens room had broken and he was trying to make sure it didn’t leak water everywhere. The whole theater was pretty old, around 80 years old to be precise. There were some plumbing issues and electrical issues in the place because of this. Keith was more than happy to climb into the crawl spaces to fix things up. He was pretty much the opposite of claustrophobic.

He stuck up a laminated sign that said it was out of order on the urinal and tossed a purple urinal cake into the working ones. After that he left and went to go to the women’s room, but then stopped.

Sure it was his job but he really needed to call out to anyone in there to make sure there wasn’t someone in there using the bathroom. He didn’t want to be labeled a creep or a pervert for trying to do his job. This is why he liked working at night when everyone was gone. He needed a woman to make sure there was no one in there.

“...” He sighed heavily and resigned himself to his fate of just ignoring the women's room until everyone was gone so he could do his job. It was just another one of those things.

Suddenly Pidge rounded the corner with a fast food bag in their hand. “Hey man. What’s up?”

 _Can you check the woman’s room for me?_ He quickly signed. _I know you’re non binary but you’re less likely to get screamed at if you look in there._

“... Yah, fair enough. Hold my food.” They passed their food bag to Keith and looked inside. “Hey! Anyone in here? Janitor’s gotta clean the shitter!” After a few seconds of silence and took their food off of Keith. “It’s all yours my dude.”

 _Thank you._ Keith quickly put up a closed for cleaning sign in front of the door and quickly went in. 

He really hoped that no one would barge in anyway. It had happened a few times before. Most people would get embarrassed and quickly leave or if it was an emergency, usually a young girl that needed to change a pad or tampon, Keith would quickly leave and let them do what they needed to do. Then there were the times the shrieking banshee’s would come screaming in and demand he get the fuck out. Usually it resulted in Keith hiding in the janitor’s store room until someone came to find him while he tried not to have a panic attack.

He quickly went about changing the sanitary bins, scrubbing the toilets, cleaning the makeup on the skin, and refilling the soap dispenser. When he was almost done the bathroom door opened up and Nyma walked in. She was on her phone and gave Keith a mildly annoyed look. 

“You done yet?” She asked.

Keith nodded and quickly left the bathroom. The cleaning in progress sign was still there, which annoyed him a lot. Nyma should have just waited or at least poked her head in instead of just marching in like she owned the place. Like usual.

He just shook his head and went up to the soundbooth to check and change the bins. Pidge was in there eating their lunch with Hunk. He was a larger man that was kind of intimidating to approach, but he was the definition of a gentle giant. He always said hi to Keith and would tell him to have a good night if he saw him in the evening.

“Hey Keith.” Said Hunk when he walked into the room. “Are you working?”

Keith nodded and held up a trash bag. The two nodded and let Keith get on with his work without bothering him. He was thankful that they just ignored him when he was working. 

“Oh so did you hear what Lance was talking about the other day?” Asked Pidge

“The Ghost thing?” Asked Hunk.

Pidge cackled. “Yep! Dumb ass thinks the place is haunted. Saw and heard some guy singing the other day. He went to see who it was and bam! They vanished. Now he thinks it’s a ghost.” Keith’s face started to burn. “I told him that a young man got murdered here over hundred years ago backstage before his final performance, and now he performs every night to an audience that will never hear him.”

“And he bought it?” Asked Hunk.

“Lance is a lot of things, gullible is one of them.”

“... Hasn’t the theatre only been running for 80 years?”

Pidge shrugged. “Not my fault Lance knows shit about the theater.” They looked over at Keith. “Hey Keith? Your brother owns this place. Does he know about any creepy ghost stories?” Keith shook his head. “Bummer.”

Keith quickly finished up with the trash and headed to the dumpster out the back. He couldn’t believe that Lance thought he was a ghost. Was Lance really that dumb? He didn’t really know what to think. Well, today was a half day for the people at the theatre and he wanted it to be over so that he could have the theatre to himself. He only had to wait two more hours. Just two hours and he could pretend he was somewhat important.

***

Lance was convinced that there was a ghost in the theater and he was so going to see it. According to Pidge they would only show up if it was dead quiet in the theatre and you couldn’t interrupt their song. You had to sit quietly in the theater up the back and applaud when they were done.

Now Lance didn’t want to just see the ghost because it was a ghost, but because Pidge had touted off that the ghost was an amazing singer and well… If Lance was honest he was extremely nervous about his role in the musical and wanted help. Any kind of help. He needed constructive criticism. He was either getting praise from friends or cut down by jealous people who wanted his role. He wanted the ghost to maybe hear him and give him some pointers. He was pretty desperate for an objective opinion.

He wondered if Keith had ever seen the ghost when he was working? He might ask the man later. Either way Lance happily hid away when everyone was going home and only emerged an hour after everyone was meant to have gone home. The theater was weird when he was the only one there. He very quietly walked into the theatre and sat down in one of the seats.

He nervously sat around for what felt like forever before he looked up and happened to see a man in a red jacket walking across the stage. They were wearing a bright red jacket and wearing a masquerade skull mask. He didn’t even notice Lance as they walked over to the piano and played a few scales. After they finished their scales they started playing a song on the piano.

“I feel you Johanna...” He sang as his fingers effortlessly glided across the piano. They were singing Johanna from Sweeney Todd. His voice was beautiful and once again Lance was completely mesmerized by their voice. He sounded like an angel and Lance stayed quiet through the whole song. “I feel you Johanna. Wake up, Johanna. Another bright red day we learn Johanna to say good-bye… I’ll steal you…”

When he played the last note Lance started applauding. In an instant the man at the piano jumped up, knocking over the chair and quickly looked around the theater, quickly spotted Lance. They froze for a few moments before they ran backstage.

“Wait!” Called Lance. He quickly got up and ran backstage to try and find them. “Wait! I-I want to talk to you for a second!” Backstage was deathly quiet. Lance started looking around the theater and hoped that he could spot them again. “You have an amazing voice… I… I want to ask you for help…”

He didn’t get any response. The theater was dead quiet again. He couldn’t even hear Keith pushing around that squeaky janitorial cart he sometimes had with him. Maybe it was his day off?

“... Your voice is amazing.” Said Lance again. “I… I need some help. You’re the only one who can help me. Please?” When Lance got no response he quickly pulled out the script and skipped down to one of his songs, cleared his throat and started singing. “Chim chiminey, chim chiminey, chim chim cher-oo! I does what I likes, and I likes what I do-”

When he was done he looked around and desperately hoped that he would get a response. After what felt like centuries Lance’s shoulders sagged and he decided to leave. He turned around and started to walk back to the stage when he heard a voice from somewhere up in the rafters.

“You’re flat.” They said.

Lance quickly looked up but couldn’t see them. “I’m flat?”

“Yes.”

“... I um… I know this is going to be weird and all but um… Can you give me some pointers?”

“... Why?”

“Because you sound awesome and I want to learn from you.” Said Lance like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Look man, I… I heard you just now and holy shit you are perfect. And like, I don’t know how long you’ve been able to be a ghost and look around and um… I don’t know if you were looking at some of the performances or like, if you even noticed me but I… It’s my first time doing a lead role and I am pretty awful…”

“You’re not awful.” Said the voice. They were still above him but they sounded like they were walking along. Their voice was drifting closer. “You’re good. I’m happy you got a lead role. You’re going to do amazing.”

Lance blushed and rubbed the back of his head. “Aw, shucks man. You don’t have to butter me up like that. I’m pretty sure Coran just chose me because I’m friends with Allura.”

“He chose you because you are good. You were a good pirate in the Pirates of Penzance last year.”

“... You saw that?”

“Of course I did. It’s your time to shine now Lance.”

“... Even if I sing flat?”

“You just need practice. I can hear potential in your voice. You’re good. Maybe get yourself a singing coach? They could really help you.”

“Um… could you maybe be my coach?”

“... What?”

‘Like, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, I just… You’re a really good singer and you can play the piano really well and I um… I’m also kind of broke and can’t afford a coach right now… I-I’m probably bothering you a lot huh?”

“Kind of.”

“Thought as much… Um, thanks for listening to my request anyway. Um… Good luck with doing what you’re doing. Guess I’ll see you around sometime, or hear you around? Bye…” Lance quickly retreated when he heard the voice calling out to him.

“Wait! I never said I wouldn’t help you… Come back tomorrow and I will help you improve your voice.”

“... Seriously?”

“... Yes?”

Lance grinned. “You are a lifesaver! I’ll be back, same time tomorrow! I promise!” He happily grabbed his back and almost skipped out of the theater.

***

When Lance was gone Keith very carefully lied down in the rafters above the theater, placing his head on a sandbag. He talked to Lance. He had a full conversation with Lance and he agreed to be Lance’s singing coach. He couldn’t do this. He had fucked up. This was a new kind of hell. But at least it was hell with a cute boy.


	3. Scales

Keith’s fingers slowly danced across the keyboard as he sang into the microphone. Some days when he was sure there was no one in the house Keith would open himself up and sing. Sure he was in his room, which was the basement of Shiro and Adam’s house, and it was sound proofed to hell and back, but it was his safe space.

He had a lot of different musical instruments in his room. Lots of it was second hand stuff that he was able to buy from pawnshops or was able to buy off the internet. He had a keyboard piano, a cello, violin, flute, trumpet, and a set of drums. He didn’t play his cello or violin that often since he always went way too hard on them and just destroyed the bow. Bows were pretty expensive. They were made from horsehair after all. Sure he could have used synthetic, but he didn’t like how it sounded.

Apart from his instruments he did have a little recording equipment, a computer, and his bed. He didn’t record his voice often, but he knew that Shiro liked his singing, so he did record a few pieces every now and then. He did email his songs to his brother with strict instructions to never play it in front of him and just not talk to him about it ever.

On the days he sent them to Shiro the other man seemed to be a lot happier. There was just a look in his eye that let Keith know he heard the song and was just thankful that Keith was still singing. That small bit of acknowledgement was enough to make Keith blush and his heart to race.

But today was not about making a song to send to Shiro. This was a song he needed to sing to give himself confidence. Enough confidence to make him get out of the house and teach Lance how to sing. He was good, really good. He just needed some pointers.

“Do you really want me dead or alive to live a lie…” Sang Keith. He finished the song and hit the last few notes. He felt more confident now. He put on a plain black T, jeans, and his work overalls. 

He went upstairs and went to catch the bus for his shift. There were never any parking spaces when there were people there practicing. When he got to the theatre people were starting to leave. Keith kept his head down and quickly made his way inside. People were still milling around so Keith went and headed to the supply closet to get his stuff ready for cleaning. He wasn’t getting paid to help Lance sing.

As he unloaded his cleaning supplies onto his cart someone called out to him. “Keith!”

Keith jumped in shock and quickly looked around to see Lance waving at him. The man had given him a fucking heart attack. He immediately felt his throat and tongue swell up in his mouth. All his previous confidence was gone. He was fucked. So, so very fucked. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t do this.

Lance seemed to be oblivious to Keith’s panic as he came over to me. “Yo, so Pidge was awesome enough to teach me some sign language.”

Keith gave lance a confused look. _Why?_ He signed.

“I know that one! That’s why. Right?”

Keith nodded and quickly signed some more. _Yes, but why?_

Lance frowned a little as he closely watched his hands and it took a moment for him to process things. “... Oh! I want to learn so I can talk to you better. Plus learning ASL is a good skill to have anyway.”

_I guess, but why do you want to talk to me anyway? I don’t get it. I’m just a janitor with no real-_

“Whoa! Slow down there Keith.” Said Lance quickly. “I only know some super basic things. I’m still learning.”

Keith’s face went red and he quickly nodded. _I’m sorry. I have to get to work. Bye._ He quickly grabbed his cart and walked down the hallway as fast as he could. He made a complete fool of himself in front of a cute guy. There was no way he could actually teach Lance how to sing. Lance would be so disappointed when he found out that he was meant to teach him how to sing. No one wanted to hear him talk.

He went to the bathrooms and decided to just clean those while quietly hoping that Lance didn’t remember that he said he would help him sing. But he knew that was a stupid thing to hope. Lance seemed excited for the help. He didn’t want to disappoint Lance but showing up would disappoint him even more.

Keith didn’t know what kind of guilt would be worse. The guilt of showing up and Lance realising that the best Keith could do was glare at him and angrily hit a keyboard in frustration, or the guilt he would feel when he saw Lance the next day all sad and confused.

“... Fuck…” He whispered in frustration and angry, frustrated tears started to form in his eyes. He grabbed a cloth and a disinfectant. He started to viciously rub down the sinks in the mens bathroom. He hated being such a coward. He hated disappointing people. Hell, he felt he had disappointed Shiro enough when he wasn’t able to get a job on his own and had to rely on him.

He looked at himself in the mirror and glared at himself. How the fuck was he able to talk to Lance before? What was different? He was hardly able to have a conversation with Shiro. It was mostly Shiro talking and Keith talking in the smallest sentences possible. How the hell was he able to talk to Lance before? What was different? 

He continued to study his face as he thought back. His… His hair was up? Keith took an elastic off his wrist and did his hair up. That wasn’t it. He wasn’t wearing his overalls? He took off the top half of his overalls and let it hand around his hips. That wasn’t it either… Then again, he was wearing a mask… He was going to have to wear a mask, wasn’t he?

***

Lance sighed heavily as he sat in the backseats of the theater. Well, he had gone and scared Keith away. Which sucked. He didn’t mean to scare him. Keith just seemed lonely and Lance wanted to talk to him and actually have a conversation with him. He didn’t understand what Keith was saying and tried to tell Keith he was only at baby level ASL, but the poor guy just looked embarrassed and quickly ran off.

He wondered how long Keith had been mute. Maybe his whole life? Maybe it was recent? He didn’t know. It might not have been that recent since Keith could sign really well. Maybe a few years? If so, was he mute because there was something wrong with his vocal chords or because of something else? He didn’t know. 

He sighed and waited for their ghost to show up again. He was pretty sure they weren’t really a ghost. Like, sure they were ghost like, but he had a feeling that they might have just been someone from the production. They were probably a guy that had been bullied into staying in the chorus, or maybe stuck in the costume or makeup? He’d ask Pidge and Hunk if there was anyone on lighting and staging that wanted to try out for the musical but got bullied out of it.

The sound of footsteps quickly made Lance look up. The man walked out onto the stage. Black t-shirt, dark jeans, hair tied up in a high ponytail, and a skull masquerade mask covering the top half of his face.

“Um… Hey…” He muttered.

Lance grinned and walked up to the stage. “Hey man! You actually came.”

“Yeah… Didn’t want to disappoint you…” They avoided Lance’s gaze and walked over to the piano. “Anyway, let’s do some scales to warm up.”

“I’ve been warming up all day.” Whined Lance. “My vocal chords are ready.”

“Okay. Sing me a pentatonic scale. Now.” They said said quickly.

“... Um…”

“Tetratonic?” They questioned. “Heptatonic? Please don’t tell me you only know dodecatonic.”

“I know chromatic.”

They facepalmed. “Chromatic and dodecatonic is the same thing…”

“Hey, calm down there phantom.”

“Phantom?”

Lance shrugged. “Well that mask you are wearing is from Phantom of the Opera. Like, worn by the phantom in the second act during the masquerade. I don’t know your name so it’s Phantom. Unless you want to tell me your name?”

“... Phantom is fine.” They sighed and started to play something that reminded Lance of Asia. “Pentatonic scale.” Muttered the Phantom. “Just… Major pentatonic scale… C, D, E, G, A.” He quickly played it. 

“... Why do I need to sing this?”

“It’s a warm up.” Said the Phantom calmly. “... I take music very seriously. I love music. I love it a lot. You’re really good and I want you to improve. To do that I need to start at the foundations. I need to know what you know. You have a lot of potential Lance.”

“... Okay. Can you play it again?”

The Phantom nodded and slowly played the notes for him. They would hit a key again until Lance would get it right. He was surprisingly strict for a guy wearing a goofy looking skull mask. They continued on and on with the scales for what felt like forever. Lance wanted to continue on and get to the songs from the musical.

“Okay, I’ve been doing scales forever so we should just-”

“Finish for today? I agree.”

“What? No! Start on the songs!”

The Phantom rolled their eyes. “No. You are good but your pitch is off. Some of your notes are minors and others are flats when you sing a major scale. It might be fine for a local theatre performance, but I want you to really improve. Try and find different scales and practice them. If you don’t like it then don’t come back.” They moved away from the piano and walked off the stage.

Lance was shocked for a moment before he quickly ran after him. “Hey! Wait!” He looked for them backstage but they were gone. “I just want to sing like you…”

He looked around backstage for them for a few minutes before he decided to give up and head out for one of his sisters to pick him up. On the way out he happened to see Keith quietly mopping the floors with his headphones on. He looked a little frustrated. Maybe he was pissed off at him? Either that or he was really, really hated a particular sticky spot on the floor.

“...” Lance tried to walk into his line of sight so he didn’t accidentally spook him. He kind of wondered if Keith had heard him practicing with the Phantom? 

Keith glanced up at him and quickly gave the sign for hello.

Lance smiled at him. “Hey. Have you been listening to music the whole time?”

Keith nodded, nervously avoiding Lance’s gaze. He alternated between squeezing his mop and lightly rubbing his hands over the front of his overalls.

“So you didn’t hear anything happening in the theatre? Backstage?”

Keith shook his head, eyes still trained at the ground.

Lance knew he was making Keith uncomfortable. “Oh… Um… Well, I’ll just be outside. My sister’s going to pick me up… Sorry if I upset you before… I’m still learning ASL. Baby steps and stuff… Um… See you later.” He quickly left and texted Veronica to come and pick him up.

***

Keith was internally screaming. Lance was talking to him. He was still talking to him. He had a good voice but was a little impatient, but he was good. He still couldn’t believe that it was so easy to talk to him when he was wearing that stupid mask. It was like he was cosplaying or something. Something with a new persona. Then Lance gave that persona a name; Phantom.

It was silly and stupid, but when Lance called him that he kind of fell into a roll. It was a new character. Someone different. Someone that was confident with who they were. Some cool, suave, mysterious music teacher. Then he was able to talk to Lance like it was nothing. Nothing! As it turned out all Keith needed to talk to someone was to dress up like it was Halloween.

The second he took it off and went back to just looking like Keith, he went mute again. Completely mute. When Lance said hi to him when he came out into the lobby. He tried to say hi to him with his voice, but it felt like his tongue had swollen up in his mouth. So he just signed. 

He’d tried to talk to Lance when he talked to him but nothing would come out. He felt horrible. Keith couldn’t talk to Lance like a normal human without a mask. He really needed to try and pull himself together. Next time he saw Lance he would talk to him. 

Just say hi. It would be fine. He could do this. No way he wouldn’t freeze up when he saw Lance smiling… or saw his pretty blue eyes… soft lips… smooth skin… Just thinking about it made Keith’s face go bright red. 

Maybe he wouldn’t say hi to Lance the next time he saw him… Maybe sometime next week? The week after? … In a month? … Two months? … At the afterparty that he always cleaned up after and wasn’t really invited to… And since Lance was one of the lead actors then lots of people would be talking to him and congratulating him and he wouldn’t be alone… Next musical. Next time there was a musical Keith would talk to him.


	4. Doughnut holes

Lance hated to say it. He didn’t want to admit it. But the Phantom guy knew what he was talking about. They had him doing scales every single day. He even practiced a few times at home too. When he warmed up his vocal cords with everyone he was finding it a lot easier. Allura took notice and commented on it.

“Your range is improving.” Said Allura happily after practice one day. “Have you been getting a voice coach?”

Lance chuckled and grinned. “Maybe I have. Maybe I haven’t.”

“Lance…”

“... Maybe I have.” Muttered Lance as he played with one of the strings on his hoodie.

“Well that’s wonderful.” She said with a smile. “You were already really good before. A few more sessions and a little bit more practice with the choreography, then you will be able to rival Lotor.”

Lance blushed bright red. Lotor was a huge deal. He pretty much always got the lead male role in every production for the past three years. He deserved it too, but he was so good at acting he would always be the one that everyone talked about after. No one cared about the other men that took the lead role when Lotor wasn’t scheduled to perform that day. It was all that everyone talked about, but the worst thing was that Lotor was nice. He was a genuinely good person. Everyone liked him. A little snooty, but still nice.

“Aw, I’m not that good.”

Allura brushed him off. “Nonsense. You’re doing really well. Maybe this time when they talk about the musical and talk about Bert, they will say; Bert? Wasn’t he played by Lance? Lotor who?”

Lance blushed some more and lightly pushed her. “Oh stop it you. You’re too much.”

“And you’re not enough.” She said with a smirk. “So, want to get some coffee?”

Lance shook his head. “I can’t. I have singing lessons after this. Can’t clog up the old vocal cords with all that lactose.”

“Ah, very true.” She picked up her bag and grinned. “Well, tonight when you are done with them can you grab a card from them or something? If they can improve your singing, which was already pretty damn good, in about a week I want to see what they can do for me.”

“I’ll see what I can do, but I’m not making any promises.”

“Thanks Lance. You’re a peach.” She quickly pecked him on the cheek and happily headed off. Allura had been a close friend of his since high school. She was lovely, sweet, and like an older sister to him. 

He sat around the backstage and looked through his bag. At the bottom of his bag was a box of cinnamon doughnut holes. He had bought them early in the morning as a bit of a thank you for not trying to kick me out while you are working, gift for Keith. The guy deserved it after all the times he had just been quietly cleaning hours after everyone was gone and he just showed up and scared the shit out of him.

He looked around for Keith and found him in the hallway, looking at the bottles of cleaning products. The man was wearing his dark blue overalls that made his pale skin stand out a lot. His pretty purple looking eyes were framed by his long black hair. He was pretty. He seemed to be contemplating something, but Lance didn’t know what. 

“Keith!” He called.

The janitor jumped and ended up juggling the bottles in his hands for a few seconds before he managed to get a good hold of them. He took a deep breath and carefully put the bottles down and quickly signed hi to him.

Lance smiled and walked over with the box behind his back. “Hey. So, quick question. “Do you like doughnuts?”

Keith looked confused for a moment before he eyed him suspiciously and nodded.

“Awesome. Here.” He handed the doughnuts holes to him. “Here you go. Fresh cinnamon doughnut holes… Well, they were made today anyway… But I hope you like them.”

Keith hesitantly took them from him and signed why to him. He looked very confused.

Lance just smiled and shrugged. “Well, I keep spooking you by accident, and if you ask me people in your profession don’t get thanked enough. So like, consider it a thanks for doing your job and sorry I keep freaking you out kinda gift?”

Keith went bright red, nodded very quickly and quickly vanished down the hallway. Presumably to put the food away from all the chemical stuff. It was cute. It made him grin. Keith was cute. He probably would have died of embarrassment if Lance sang a love song to him or just a song in general. The poor sweet thing.

While he was quietly laughing over this he heard piano playing from the theater. Lance grinned and happily headed back to the stage to see the Phantom playing scales. His hair was tied back into a high ponytail and was wearing an MCR graphic T-shirt, and ripped blue jeans. Still wearing the stupid mask though.

He looked up and nodded at Lance, quickly switching from the piece he was playing to a few scales. Lance chuckled and started singing the notes as he walked over to him. Once he was standing next to the piano the Phantom finished off the scale and looked up at him.

“You’ve improved a lot. Good job.”

“Aw, thanks man. Guess you were right about practicing.”

“Of course I was.” They stood up and looked Lance over. “... Stand up a little straighter. You’re kind of slouching.”

“Am not.”

The Phantom rolled his eyes and stood behind him. He put his hands on Lance’s shoulders and very carefully changed his stance. His hands were soft, but firm. He then carefully nudged Lance’s feet apart a little and squared his hips. He then walked in front of him and tilted his chin up a little.

“Better.”

“Better?”

“Better posture.” He sat back at the piano and cracked his knuckles. “Now… Again.” Once they finished the next set the Phantom grinned up at him. “Hear the difference? It’s all about the posture.”

“Yeah. I really noticed.”

“Yep.” The Phantom looked through the sheet music left at the table and hummed a little to themselves until they found what they were after. “Okay. Time to work on actual songs.”

“What. really?” Lance was super excited.

The Phantom chuckled at his enthusiasm and nodded. “Now, you have to remember that this is your first song. The audience knows nothing of your character. How you walk and the way you sing your song is going to influence that. Lotor always plays his characters a little more straight laced than they should. He’ll play Bert as more of a kind man that just happens to have a dozen different jobs. Bert is a comical, fun loving, honest hustler kind of guy. If you want to stand out and make people remember you, don’t copy Lotor down to a T. Make Bert yours and play to your strengths.”

Lance was surprised by the bit of acting advice. “Really?”

The Phantom nodded and grinned. “Yep. Lance you have charisma. You have enough charisma to make you shine. Lance, you’re already a star. You just need a little work to shine your brightest.”

Lance could feel his face heating up. “You hitting on me or something?”

“... Depends.”

“On what?”

“Is it working?”

Lance’s face was heating up more. “Oh wow… Smooth move there Phantom.”

The Phantom laughed and winked at him. “You know it. Now… Back to work. I’m not getting paid to flirt with you.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “I’m not paying you at all.”

“Hearing your voice improve is payment enough.” Said the Phantom. “And when I get to see you perform on stage for the first time I’ll consider my work done.” They played a few notes. “I love the theater…”

“... Have you ever been on stage before?”

“No… I like the stage, but the limelight was never my thing.” Said the Phantom. “No matter how much I wanted to get out there and show the world what I could do… No one really ever wanted to hear me. Just told me to shut up and stop making noise… I guess I just don’t want to bother anyone with hearing me if I’m just going to annoy them.”

“... I don’t think you’re annoying.” Said Lance. “And I really like hearing you sing and play music. You’re amazing. Anyone would be lucky to hear you sing.”

“...” The Phantom nervously laughed a little and cracked his knuckles. “Anyway, let’s get started. We’ll sing it all the way from start to finish and then I’ll point out where you were flat, sharp, or sung the wrong note…”

***

Lance got him doughnut holes. A cute boy got him doughnut holes. After work, Shiro had picked him up and Keith had been quiet the whole time, which worried Shiro a little, but when they got back home Keith just signed that work was just stressful and he was tired. He then went back to his room and got the food out of his bag.

So there Keith was, sitting on his bed with an unopened box of doughnut holes in front of him. This was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever given him. Beside’s stuff that Shiro gave him of course. Keith still couldn’t believe that Lance gave him something when they hardly knew each other. It probably meant nothing, but Keith kind of wanted it to mean something.

“...” He opened up the box and continued to stare at the doughnut holes. He liked cinnamon doughnuts a lot… They tasted really, really good and Keith was a man of simple pleasures. Though he was still wary of the gift.

Lance could have put something in them, like nails or chili flakes. Maybe glass? He knew those were horrible things to think about since Lance was so nice to him for no reason, but that made him really uneasy. Lance was nice to him for no reason. He could be messing around with him and trying to make him feel comfortable around him before he hit him with the harsh hammer of reality.

The only thing that made him doubt that line of thought was the little plastic sticker that sealed the box. He took one out of the box, ripped it open, inspected the insides and ate it. It was good. He felt a little bad about doubting Lance before.

He was a really nice guy. Not one of those neckbeard, why are all the girls fucking Chad and not me, nice guys. He was a nice person. Now, what was the next step in this relationship that they had? Was Keith meant to gift something to Lance? Was that how this worked? He wasn’t too sure.

He sighed and lied down on his back, pulling the food onto his chest. Keith wasn’t sure what to make of this. Lance was one of the strangest people he had been around ever. And that was saying something. He technically lived with two theater geeks that loved the theater so much they bought a bloody theater.

He shook his head and ate some more doughnut holes. Maybe he was thinking too much about this. He usually did. He was paranoid enough as it was. He didn’t need to keep thinking about the very, very cute guy he was teaching to sing… Couldn’t think about his pretty eyes and soft lips… His lightly fluffy hair and kind smile… He knew he was whipped.


	5. Fancy doughnuts

“-and don’t be worried about giving it a little more razzle dazzle.” Said Coran. He leaned into a lunge and did some jazz hands. Everyone was practicing the choreography for the song, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Coran was focusing more of the chorus line while Nyam and Allura were trying to say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious backwards. It was a feat.

Lance was having enough trouble trying to keep up with the fast paced, high energy dance moves that Coran wanted them to do. Sure, it wasn’t really super intense or anything, but they were dancing as well as singing. It was tough.

“Lance you’re not doing it correctly.” Said Lotor. “It’s three steps to the left, spin, slide to the right into a lunge.”

“Right, what am I doing?”

“Two steps.”

“Right…” Lance sighed and went through the routine again. Three steps to the left, spin and slide to the right into a lunge. “Better?”

“Yep.” If there was one thing that Lotor was, he was a perfectionist. He carded his fingers through his hair as he looked through the script. “Let’s see… From there our partner is meant to pull us up and we spin them around. After that we start dancing with the rest of the chorus… I guess we will practice that when the chorus has their routine perfected.”

“Probably.” Said Lance. “... Want to take five? I need to use the bathroom.”

Lotor nodded and waved him off. “Go ahead. I’ll see if the girls need any help.”

Lance quickly left and headed down the hallway to the bathroom. Practice was hard and saying supercalifragilisticexpialidocious was getting him all tongue tied. He sighed and quickly ducked into the bathroom. When he got out he noticed Keith quietly sweeping with his headphones on.

Their eyes met and Lance grinned at him. Keith blushed a little and waved slightly. Lance took this as a positive sign and went over to talk to him. “Hey Keith. Working day shift today?”

Keith raised his fist to about shoulder height and bobbed it up and down a few times while nodding. Lance was proud to say he knew that was the sign for yes.

“Cool. Did you like the doughnut holes?”

Keith blushed and quickly signed yes again.

“Good. I was worried you didn’t like doughnuts or like, prefered ones with chocolate icing or strawberry icing. Like, cinnamon is pretty universay and stuff so… like, yeah. Is cinnamon your favourite?”

Keith quickly tapped his middle and index fingers against his thumb, signing no.

Lance frowned a little. “Alright… What about chocolate?”

No.

“Caramel?”

No.

“Strawberry?”

Yes.

Lance grinned. “Awesome. Oh, have you ever been to this doughnut place? It’s um… It’s call Gay but Doughnuts. I heard they were going to call it Gay Ass Doughnuts, but thought it wouldn’t go down well with some people so it’s Gay but Doughnuts… Because the people running it are gay, but they make doughnuts. One of the best strawberry ones they have is the strawberry cheesecake doughnut, it’s so good. You know what? When do you finish on Friday?”

Keith looked kind of stunned by everything Lance just said to him and he quickly patted himself down to find a notepad. He found one in his pocket and quickly scribbled down 10pm. Alright, a little late, but Lance could work with it. He’d just tell the Phantom guy he had stuff to do on Friday and couldn’t make it.

“Sweet. Let’s meet up after work.”

Keith’s eyes almost bugged out of his head and he looked almost stunned. Before he could try and sign anything or write something down, Lotor called out for him.

“Lance!” He called. “Coran wants us all on stage, now!”

“Got it!” He smiled back over at Keith. “Remember, Friday night. I’ll meet you out the front.” He winked at Keith and quickly shot him finger guns. Keith’s face was bright red and he quickly went back to sweeping.

***

When Friday rolled around Keith was kind of nervous. Lance had told the Phantom on Thursday night that he had something important to do, so he couldn’t make it on Friday. So Keith made him practice twice as hard. But now it was Friday and Keith was busy deep cleaning one stain on the stage that had been there since before he was born. He was nervous. He had no idea what Lance was planning.

When he couldn’t put it off any further. Keith put his cleaning supplies away and awkwardly shuffled out the front door and locked up. He awkwardly looked around and took his phone out. Maybe Lance wasn’t actually going to be here tonight? Maybe he could shoot Adam or Shiro a text and-

“Keith!”

Nope. Lance was there. He was obscured by one of the stone pillars on the stone fence. He had a box of doughnuts in his hand. Was this their thing now? They shared and ate doughnuts? Now Keith was wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into. The whole Phantom thing was bad enough.

Lance walked up to him and presented him with a box of fancy doughnuts. “Here you go. Sorry I know I implied I wanted to hang out tonight, but my brother’s gone and forced me to do babysitting tonight. My sister is watching them for the moment so I could come and do this. Want me to give you a lift home instead?”

Keith looked up at him and blinked slowly. Lance was… He was weirdly intense. But it wasn’t that bad. It just took Keith a little while to register that Lance was actually talking to him.

“So you want me to give you a lift home?” Asked Lance.

“...” Keith nodded.

Lance grinned and passed his phone to him. “Can you put in your address?” Keith quickly put his address in and handed it over to Lance. He looked at the address and nodded. “Cool, that’s actually pretty close to where I live.”

The two of them got into Lance’s car and Lance passed the box of six doughnuts to Keith. Looking through the plastic and into the box, Keith couldn’t help but agree that these were indeed some gay but doughnuts. One of them had to be covered in edible glitter, another one had to be the cheesecake one Lance had talked about, one had a huge swirl of chocolate ganache and lashes of caramel all over it. One was caramel and had salted pretzels on it. One looked like it was custard filled. One looked like a cupcake.

Keith nervously bit his bottom lip. He felt weird. Kind of anxious, but it was a good anxious? He couldn’t really explain it, which confused him a lot. He should probably say thanks to Lance for this. Not just sign it. He could say it. He was determined to say something to him. It would be easy enough to say thank you. He could say small words. Simple words. 

He pressed his tongue against his top teeth and tried to make the th sound. The best he could do was make a very weak hissing sound that Lance didn’t hear over the radio. It was a song being sung in Spanish. The singer was an alto-soprano by the sound of it, but she was slightly auto tuned. Keith wasn’t a huge fan of auto tune, but it sounded alright.

Lance looked very happy. Keith couldn’t help but feel his face heating up when he saw that bright smile of his. He still couldn’t understand why Lance was being so nice to him. Keith wasn’t anyone… He was just… Keith. Quiet useless Keith.

“And here we are.” Lance pulled up in front of Keith’s house and grinned. “This is your place, right?”

Keith nodded and was about to get out of the car when he paused and tried to say thanks for the lift. He attempted to try and at least make the th sound again, but his throat seemed to suddenly dry. He frowned at himself and signed instead. Thank you.

It took Lance a moment to figure out what he had said, but when he did he smiled. “No problem man. Next time we’ll hang out longer.”

With that Lance left and Keith was left back at his house with yet another box of doughnuts. He went inside and found both Shiro and Adam making out on the couch. He rolled his eyes and quietly made his way back to his room. He doubted they would even know he was home until they texted him and asked if he needed a lift.

Keith sat on his bed and started playing some music on his old CD player. Yeah, Keith still used CDs and stuff, but he liked it. He liked collecting CDs and had fun looking through them. It was like how some people were with records. He had an MCR CD in it and was happy to listen to it while eating doughnuts.

If he was honest he hadn’t eaten all the doughnut holes that Lance had given him before. He ate the strawberry cheesecake doughnut. It was really, really, really good. But now he was sad because there was no way in hell he could go into any shop and buy anything from a shop that didn’t have a self checkout. He could always ask Shiro about it, but he felt childish asking Shiro to buy him a doughnut. Suddenly his phone started ringing.

**Shiro**   
_You need a lift?_

**Keith**   
_I’m in my room_

**Shiro**   
_Really?_   
_Can I come down?_

**Keith**   
_Yes_

A few seconds later Shiro opened the basement door and walked down. He looked very confused. “How did you get back? You didn’t catch the bus and… Where did you get those doughnuts?”

Keith shrugged and nervously held the box closer to himself. He knew Shiro wasn’t mad at him or anything for having doughnuts, but he sounded kind of accusatory. “I-I was given them…” He said quietly.

Shiro nodded and sat next to him. “... Was it Pidge?”

Keith shook his head and felt his face heating up. “L-Lance. He is… He’s nice. He’s learning ASL… F-for me… m-maybe… N-not sure.” 

Shiro smiled at him. “Well that’s nice. Sounds like you’re making a new friend.”

“... H-he’s cute.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah…” Keith nodded and drummed his fingers on the box. “... I-I don’t know why he gives me doughnuts…”

Shiro shrugged. “Well maybe he just did? You’re not a bad person because you have selective mutism. Lance can clearly see that you’re worth his time and he likes you for you. Have you tried talking to him yet?” 

Keith sighed and decided it would be easier to sign this to Shiro. He felt like he used up his speaking quota for today. _I tried to say thank you to him because he gave me a lift. I couldn’t. I feel awful that I couldn’t do it. I feel like if I talk to him he’ll be disappointed in me. I sound weird._

Shiro seemed confused. “Keith, you don’t sound weird. Your voice is fine. You speak clearly enough.”

 _I don’t like how I sound._ Signed Keith. _I sound weird and people will think I sound weird. They will tell me to shut up because my voice is so annoying and stupid._

“Keith, you aren’t a squeaky voiced teenager.” Said Shiro calmly. “You sound good, but I get it. You find it hard to talk. You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”

_Thanks_

“Want me to put your doughnuts in the fridge? I’ll put your name on it so Adam keeps his paws off them.”

Keith nodded and Shrio took the food upstairs. He still kept the strawberry cheesecake doughnut for himself to eat. He didn’t know what he was feeling for Lance. Friendship? Romantic feelings? Lance was probably like this with everyone. Maybe he could ask for Lance’s phone number? Friends did things like texting, right? He wanted to be friends with Lance at the very least.


	6. Mall

Today was one of the worst days of Keith’s life. Why? He had to go out where the people were so he could grab some noise canceling headphones. He could have ordered them online, but he wanted to see how they felt on his head. He wanted them to be the perfect fit. Which meant people. Shiro had gone with him but he was easily distracted by phone accessories.

Keith had found the headphones he wanted, but he needed an employee to take the security tag off the hook to get them. To do that he needed to talk to an employee. Everyone seemed to be talking to other customers and Keith really didn’t know what to do. He wished he was brave enough to go up and ask for help, but he couldn’t.

He walked to Shiro and saw him talking to an employee and instantly felt himself die inside. He didn’t want to interrupt. It could be important. He’d just wait… Though he felt sad. He wanted help but he didn’t want to interrupt Shiro.

“Is that you Keith?” Asked Pidge.

Keith jumped a little and looked down at Pidge. He waved down at her and quickly signed hello to her.

“So, what’s happening?” She asked. “You said you don’t like crowds. Keith quickly signed that he wanted headphones but needed help getting them off the hook.

“Ah. Got ya. Come with me.” She gestured for Keith to follow them. They walked to an employee that had just finished up with another customer. “Excuse me?”

The employee looked over at them. “Hi. What can I do for you?”

Pidge gestured to Keith. “My friend here needs some help getting a pair of headphones off the wall.”

They went to the wall of headphones and Keith quickly pointed out what he wanted. The employee got the headphones for him and handed them over before going to help someone else. Keith was very grateful and signed to Pidge as much. He also asked why they were there.

“Eh, just went to grab some cables for a project me and my dad are working on. If this works out… Let’s just say we’re gonna have better internet than a 5G tower.”

Keith just nodded as Shiro walked over to them. “Hey Pidge. What are you doing here?”

“Getting cables and stuff.” They said. “So what are you doing here?”

Shiro held up a phone case. “I wanted to get another one since I keep dropping my phone. That and Keith wanted to get some headphones.”

“Neat.” They looked down at their phone and hummed a little. “I’m also meeting up with some people for lunch. You two want to join us? It’s just me, Hunk, and Lance. We’re going to eat in the food court.”

Keith could feel his face starting to heat up. This would be the first time meeting up outside of the theater. It might be nice? But what if he didn’t want to see him? What if Lance was annoyed by him or Hunk was annoyed? He didn’t want to be annoying. He didn’t want Lance and his friends to dislike him… But it could be a good chance to try and be normal and hang out with him.

Shiro glanced over at Keith and saw his worry, but knew he liked Lance. “Sure. We’ll just pay for this and meet you there. Sound good to you?”

“Perfect.” Said Pidge. “See you there.”

When she walked off Keith just stared at Shiro like he had lost his other arm. Shiro shrugged and took the headphones from Keith and walked towards the register. “Calm down Keith. If it gets too much I can make up an excuse and we can leave. Adam getting stuck under the sink again? Adam not knowing how to get the mower running? So many things… Plus I thought you liked Lance?”

Keith groaned a little and signed that he was going to wait outside for him. When Shiro was done the two of them walked to the food court. It was a few hours after the lunch rush, so it was relatively empty. They easily spotted Pidge and Hunk at a table close to some sandwich place. They sat down and Hunk cheerfully greeted them. Shiro asked where Lance was.

Hunk shrugged. “Lance had to pick up something on the way here. I think he needed some more foundation for the musical or something? I’m not sure.”

“Guys! Look who I found!” Called Lance as he dragged Allura over to the table. “I found her in sephora!” 

“Hello everyone.” She said happily. “Oh, hello Shiro. It’s nice to see you… And you’re Keith, right? I don’t see you around the theater so much.”

Keith just shrugged and let Shiro answer for him. He always did when they were out. Everyone quickly settled into cheerful conversation while Keith just looked down at his phone. He didn’t need to participate with anything more than a nod or a shrug. He was just nervous about having to eat in front of people. 

This wasn’t good. He was going well so far but this… All of this might be overwhelming for him. He wanted to be here to be around Lance, but Lance wasn’t… He hadn’t even said hello to him since he sat down. He was too busy talking with his friends and Allura. He knew that Lance didn’t expect him and Shiro to be there, but he would have liked to have been acknowledged. He watched the way Lance threw his arm around Allura’s shoulders as they laughed and giggled.

In an instant Keith’s heart shattered. Were Lance and Allura dating? Were they going out? How long have they been together? Lance was straight… Of course he was straight… Not every person that likes theater was gay. Keith sunk into his seat and he felt stupid. It wasn’t the first time he stupid gay heart had done this to him. Made him feel all happy around someone and think they might like him back, then he’d get slapped with the fact they were straight.

While he was feeling depressed everyone started to go off and get their own food. Shiro said he would go and get something for Keith. He didn’t care. He just nodded and waited to see what he’d end up either tossing in the bin or take home and eat later.

“Hey are you okay? Aren’t you going to get something to eat?” Asked Lance as he sat next to him. He looked like he had some sandwich wrap thing. 

Keith sighed a little and grabbed a notepad and pen. He scribbled down that he was okay and that Shiro was going to get something for him. He didn’t care what.

Lance nodded. “Kind of sucks though, huh? Like, you go to this place and can choose anything but your brother picks for you?” Keith tapped the sentence that stated he doesn’t care what he gets. “Well yeah, but sometimes you feel like eating other things. Stuff like… You might want chicken or like fish? Burgers?”

Keith shrugged. He didn’t really care too much about that. If he wanted anything he could always menu log it or whatever. He knew Lance meant well, but he just… He sighed a little and quickly wrote down a question for Lance, asking him what he bought.

Lance read over what he wrote and held up his shopping bag. “Foundation for me and my sisters gave me money to pick up some pallets for them. I was practicing some makeup for the musical the other day and I was shocked to find out that I had none left. It was the worst!”

Keith smiled a little and nodded along. He liked listening to Lance talk about the stuff he liked other than musical theater. It was interesting finding out about the different sides of Lance. He wanted to talk to Lance too and tell him about the things that he liked, but he didn’t have a voice. His voice wouldn’t leave his throat.

Eventually everyone wandered back with their own food. Shiro got him a small tray of sushi. Keith opened his and kind of just poked it a few times with his chopsticks. Everyone else ate and talked to each other about this and that while all Keith could think of was shitty high school and eating in the cafeteria. Then again he usually brought his own lunch and hit away somewhere quiet to avoid everyone else.

He glanced around at everyone and saw how happy everyone was. Keith knew it wasn’t high school and he could swallow his anxiety this time. He could. Really he could. He quickly grabbed a piece and ate it. He actually ate it. Chewed and swallowed and everything. No one else noticed his small victory, but he was happy. He couldn’t really eat a second piece though, even though he was hungry.

He looked around the table and everyone was still talking and ignoring him. Like usual. He lightly tapped Shiro’s shoulder to get his attention. When he had his attention Keith quickly signed that he was done eating and was going to go to the music shop to get some more bow strings.

“Sure. I’ll meet you there?” He asked.

“Where are you going?” Asked Hunk.

“He’s going to the music shop to pick up some things.” Said Shiro.

“You play an instrument?” Asked Lance. “What do you play?”

Keith froze in his seat and quickly gestured playing a violin. He didn’t really want to try and show all the other instruments he played. Everyone seemed pretty impressed. Before anyone could ask him anymore questions Keith quickly got up and headed to the music store. 

The owner for the store, Kolivan, just looked up at him from the desk and raised an eyebrow. “Do you need something or do you want to play the piano?”

Keith shrugged and held up two fingers trying to indicate he wanted to do both. He was usually nice enough to let him do both, unless the piano was broken or something. He just nodded and put a piece of paper and a pen on the counter top.

“Write what you need and I’ll put them out for you.”

Keith was thankful and wrote down all the things he was after before quickly going to the store’s piano. Kolivan had always been understanding and was the one Keith always went to for repairs. He was a little intimidated by him, but he was a very no nonsense kind of guy. He liked Keith enough to let him play the store’s piano when it was quiet. 

There was some sheet music for The Dance of the Sugarplum fairies so he decided to play a few bars of that while Kolivan got his stuff for him.

***

Lance watched Keith quickly walk off while everyone else seemed to be surprised that Keith actually played an instrument. Hunk asked him how long Keith had been playing for. Shiro was happy enough to talk about Keith and how he was practically a child prodigy when it came to music.

It surprised Lance to no end that Keith could allegedly play so many instruments. He wondered why he didn’t decide to do anything music related when he left school. Maybe because he was mute?

“Is it because he’s mute?” Asked Lance. “Because no offence but if Beethoven could still play music despite being deaf then Keith could still do music despite being mute.”

Shiro shrugged. “Music is a very personal thing for Keith. He has terrible stage fright and has it in his head that people don’t want to hear him perform. I’ve tried to change his mind but… He just doesn’t like it. It’s best to just let him be… Though he does have a nice singing voice.”

“So he isn’t mute?” Asked Allura. “I’m a little confused…”

“Selective mutism.” Clarified Shiro. “Keith isn’t always mute and he technically talk like anyone else, but he… Technically Keith was adopted by my family and well, he’s never really talked about it but from the way he acts and from some of the things he’s let slip over the years he was probably bullied pretty badly for his voice or something… If you want to know more you’ll have to talk to him about it.”

“That’s horrible.” Said Hunk. “I can’t imagine getting bullied so badly that you just stop talking…”

Lance felt bad for Keith. He wondered what the boy sounded like before he decided talking just wasn’t worth it anymore… and if Keith was secretly into music as much as Shiro claimed he was then maybe he could get Keith to sing or play something in front of him? Maybe? He liked Keith and now he was curious to know what he sounds like.

Keith probably sounded really sexy. Something deep and gravely? That would be hot. Keith was already rocking the emo look he needed a voice to match. Though he did have to wonder what was so bad about Keith’s voice in the first place? Maybe he had a bit of a lisp or a stutter? That could be kind of cute. Maybe? He wasn’t sure. He’d like to hear Keith’s voice some day.

***

The Phantom lightly tapped Lance’s forehead with a rolled up script. “You are flat.”

Lance pouted and rubbed his forehead. “Am I?”

“Yes. What’s wrong with you today? Your voice is just… You’re all flat all over the place!” Snapped the Phantom. “It’s ridiculous!”

The Phantom had been really riding his ass about being too flat or sharp as Lance attempted to sing while dancing. He kept telling Lance to project his voice more or to said that he was running out of breath too quickly. It annoyed Lance a fair bit, but he knew that the Phantom was doing his best. But he was distracted by Keith.

“... Can I ask you something?” Asked Lance.

The Phantom frowned as they brushed some stray hair away from their mask. “If you must.”

“So you know Keith right? You would have seen him walking around cleaning up and stuff?”

The Phantom seemed a little taken aback by this and nodded. “Yes? What about him? Why are you getting distracted by him?”

Lance shrugged. “Well, I happened to see him the other day when I went out and I talked to his brother, Shiro. Cool guy. Kind of intimidating. He owns the theater with his husband… Anyway, he was talking about how Keith is basically a musical genius.”

“... Oh he did now?”

“Yeah, but Keith doesn’t like performing.” Said Lance. “I want to do something for him to make him feel better about performing… I’d like to hear him play something someday, but he isn’t confident and he’s very skittish. I don’t want him to freak out…”

“Oh…” Muttered The Phantom. “Well… I wouldn’t know about that…”

“Maybe you two can talk?” Suggested Lance. “Like, you’re all about music and stuff and he’s very shy about his music… Maybe it will help him feel a little more confident?”

The Phantom seemed to tense up a little. “You want me to talk to him?”

“Yeah. Why? Is that a problem?”

“... No, he just… If he doesn’t seem to care about music enough to seek help on his own then I don’t see any reason to reach out and help him.”

Lance pouted. “But some people don’t seek help if they don’t know they can get help. Just talk to him… Please? Even if nothing comes of it I want him to know that there are people out there that would really like to hear him when he’s ready.”

“... Okay. But can we go back to practicing now? Try not to fall flat this time.”

Lance smiled and quickly got back into position to start the routine for Step in Time. Possibly the most taxing dance routine for him. Damn those stupid high kicks.


	7. Duet

Feeling all wound up for no real reason and full of pent up energy, Keith had decided to play a little bit of Chop Suey. One of his favourite songs from System of a Down simply for the drums. Heck, he could have played a lot of different heavy metal songs, but he liked this one. He needed to figure out his own feelings and frustrations.

Lance wanted him to talk to himself about performing in front of people. It was dumb. It was stupid. Lance didn’t really want to see him perform or anything like that. He was just… Just Keith. Dumb socially awkward Keith.

There was a knock at his door. A few seconds later Adam opened the door and walked down. “Keith? You down there?”

To acknowledge him, Keith bashed a cymbal. 

“Ah, good. Time for dinner. Come on up.”

Keith nodded and headed upstairs. Thankfully Adam had gone and cooked dinner tonight so it wasn’t as burnt as it could have been. He settled down in his seat as the two other adults sat down too. They quickly fell into conversation while Keith tuned out and picked at his food.

It wasn’t anything crazy tonight. Just some roast meat with vegetables and gravy. Adam’s cooking was nice. It was warm and felt kind of like home to Keith. It was really, really nice. He quietly ate until he was asked his opinion about something. Even then it was usually a yes or no question with now follow up, so he could just shake or nod his head.

“So Keith,” began Adam. “I was wondering what is taking you so long to clean the theater these days. I’ve noticed you’re taking an hour to two hours longer than usual. Is the theater company that shitty this year or do you need to replace your cleaning supplies.”

Keith clenched his fork a little too hard as he quickly weighed up his options as to what to say. If he could find his voice to speak tonight. “I-I-I… Distracted.” He muttered quietly.

Adam hummed a little as he drank from his cup. “Distracted? By what?”

Keith shrugged. “C-costumes. Piano.”

“Are the costumes really that good this year?” Asked Adam. “Aren’t they just ye old English stuff? Long dressed and all that?”

“It’s Mary Poppins this year.” Said Shiro. “If Keith likes the costumes then let him look. Not like it’s doing him or the production any harm by looking.”

“I was just asking.” Said Adam. “I’m not saying that the costumes aren’t good, I was just asking about it since I didn’t think the costumes were that interesting. But hey, you know me. I’m the kind of person that likes much more elaborate and crazy costumes. I hope they do Wicked or Wizard of Oz next year…”

Shiro chuckled a little at Adam daydreaming of fabulous costumes and looked back over at Keith. “So, piano too huh? Anything you like playing there?”

Keith shrugged. “C-Coran sometimes leaves sheet music.”

“Ah, well that’s nice. I hope you like it.”

“I do.” Keith continued to pick away at his food. Since he wasn’t talking like the other two he was pretty much done already. He got up and put his plate away in the dishwasher before heading back down to his room.

“Wait a second Keith!” Called Shiro. “Adam and I are going to watch a movie. Do you want to watch with us?”

Keith shrugged and signed at him. _Don’t want to interrupt your date night_

“You’re not going to interrupt anything.” He said calmly. “We’re going to just sit on the couch and watch a movie. It’ll be fun.”

_Fun? Really? Will it really be fun with me there?_

Shiro’s expression softened a little. “Of course it will.”

“It has been a while since we have done something together.” Said Adam. “You won’t be intruding.”

Keith thought for a moment before shaking his head. _No thanks. I have some songs I want to play._

“Are you sure?” Asked Adam.

_Yes._

Shiro nodded. “Okay, but if you change your mind feel free to come up and join us. We’d both really love it if you joined us.”

Keith didn’t believe him. _Okay. I will._ He quickly headed back to his room and sat down on his bed. He wouldn’t have minded watching a movie with them, but he felt like he would be imposing, even if he was sitting on the other side of the room and on a chair instead of the couch with them.

He put his headphones on and put his phone on shuffle. He ended up listening to Blue Lips by Regina Spektor. It was… It was pretty and kind of beautiful. Whenever he thought of the colour blue all he could think of was Lance’s eyes. So pretty and bright. So… Lance.

Keith’s face felt hot as he thought about Lance. He wanted to hear him talk. He wanted to hear him perform something for him as Keith. Not as the Phantom. He didn’t know what to do. He was… He wasn’t what Lance wanted to hear. He was just… He’d disappoint him. He’d make Lance feel embarrassed or annoyed. He didn’t want to feel like he was annoying someone. That was the worst feeling.

He still had all his files that he had on his computer. If he really wanted to he could probably send one to Lance… But would he like it? Would he like listening to his music? He didn’t know. He had no idea.

***

A night at the McClan house was dramatic at best. He was staying with his parents while looking for a good rental. His twin sister was doing the same and so was his older brother. His other brother and sister had stopped by for dinner too. It was loud with lots of talking. Lance had been trying to read his lines up at the dinner table but his mama made him put it away.

“But mama!” He whined. “I’m trying to memorize my lines!”

She shook her head and waved a spoon at him. “No scripts at the table. Dinner time is family time.”

Lance grumbled but reluctantly did as he was told. His sister, Rachel grinned and nudged him. “You’re way too excited about this new Musical you’re in.”

He rolled his eyes and nudged her back. “Well I can’t help it if I have some musical talent. You don’t have to see it if you don’t want to.”

She grinned. “Nah, love seeing you jump and prance around is too funny.”

Their mother shook their head. “Rachel. Don’t make fun of Lance. He’s doing what he loves in his free time and is having fun. It’s more productive than you watching TV all day.”

Rachel pouted and ate her food. Lance grinned and happily went about eating while everyone started to chatter about their day and what they were up to. Veronica was complaining about work and so was Macro, his older brother. Luis was talking about his family and how glad he was that his wife, Lisa, was able to take the kids for the night.

Eventually Veronica turned the conversation back to Lance. “So, you’re really one of the leads in Mary Poppins?”

Lance grinned. “Yeah.”

Luis chuckled. “Let me know when you have a day performance. Nadia and Silvio would love to see their uncle perform, and Lisa doesn’t want them up too late.”

“As soon as Coran tells us the dates, which should be in about two weeks from now.” Said Lance. “After that we can go out for lunch or something?”

Luis grinned. “Sounds good. They are going to be singing all the songs for the rest of the week after. They loved the old Disney movie.”

“Have fun with that.” Said Lance with a grin. He could just imagine his niece and nephew having a blast watching the musical and quietly singing or humming along in the crowd. It was going to be fun.

He wondered if Keith was going to be there? Like during the performance. Would Keith go if he bought him a ticket, or would he get free entry because his brother owns the theater? He wasn’t sure. Maybe? Would Keith even accept that? … What about that Phantom guy? If his hunch was correct they actually were part of the cast. He’d talk about them the next time he saw them.

***

Lance flopped onto the stage. He was beat. The Phantom had him singing and dancing like a mad man for way longer than he probably should have. He was tried, and the Phantom didn’t seem very amused, but was letting him rest for now.

“Here.” He crouched down and handed the bottle of water. “Drink up.”

“Thanks…” Lance sat up and drank. “So are you going to watch the show on opening night?”

“I always do.” Said the Phantom.

“... In the audience or as part of the crew?”

The Phantom shrugged as they sat at the piano and played a few bars of different music. “Doesn’t really matter. I’ll be supporting the theater and the production… and you…”

The notes they were playing sounded familiar to Lance. “... Are you playing Phantom of the Opera?” 

“Hmm?”

Lance grinned and started to sing Christine’s part. “In sleep he sang to me, in dreams he came. That voice which calls to me and speaks my name.” The Phantom chuckled a little and quickly changed keys so it fitted Lance’s voice range better. “And do I dream again? For now I find The Phantom of the Opera is there, inside my mind.”

When the second verse came around the Phantom quickly took over. “Sing once again with me, our strange duet. My power over you grows stronger yet. And though you turn from me, to glance behind The Phantom of the Opera is there, inside your mind.”

Lance enjoyed their duet. He got up and walked over to The Phantom and leaned up against the side of the piano. “Those who have seen your face, draw back in fear. I am the mask you wear.”

“It’s me they hear.”

Both boys caught the other’s eye as their voices twisted and melded together in perfect harmony. “Your (my) spirit and my (your) voice in one combined; the Phantom of the Opera is there. Inside my (your) mind.”

“Beware the Phantom of the Opera.”

“He’s there, the Phantom of the Opera.” Lance broke into the final parts where he had to sing the notes while the Phantom encouraged him to sing higher and higher.

“Sing my angel of music.” Encouraged the Phantom. “Sing! Sing for me! Sing my angel! Sing! Sing my angel! Sing for me!” Eventually Lance hit the high note and his voice cracked.

Both boys broke into a small fit of giggles. Lance grinned and drank some water. “Guess I still can’t hit those high notes huh?”

“Yeah.” The Phantom smiled at him. “So you like the Phantom of the Opera?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah. I love it. I know it sounds kind of dumb, but it was the first opera I ever watched when I was a kid. I think it was what made me fall in love with theater in the first place… I was so crushed when I couldn’t join the theater when they were doing Phantom that year.”

“It was pretty good.” Said the Phantom. “I enjoyed watching it. Lotor was good as the Phantom.”

“Yeah he was…” Lance sighed a little and continued to stare at the Phantom. “So, did you talk to Keith?”

“... I did.” Said the Phantom quietly. “So um… He’s very nervous, but he’s willing to send you a sound file if you guys exchange numbers… and never talk to him about it or share it with anyone else.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because he doesn’t want anyone hearing him or feel like he is being judged.” Said the Phantom calmly. “Please be kind to him.”

“Of course I’ll be kind to him.” Said Lance reassuringly. “I know how big this would be for him… I like him”

“You like him?”

“Yeah, I like him a lot.” Said Lance quietly. “But like, it’s not like he likes me that much. I think he still doesn’t like me that much.” He admitted. “But I do want him to be comfortable around me…”

“You’re gay?”

“Bisexual.”

“Ah, okay.” The Phantom hit a few more keys. “... So um, that duet was nice...”

“Yeah it was… Do you want to maybe do it again?”

“Yeah… Our voices sound good together.”

“They really do.”

The Phantom smiled a little and cleared his throat. “A-anyway, back to work. You’ve almost nailed it. Now from the top; Let’s go fly a Kite.”


	8. Sound file

_“There’s always something different going on. The path I walk is-”_

_CLICK_

_“With this blood on my hands. In this blood I am damned. So watch my wings burn as they burn in-”_

_CLICK_

_“And I know it’s wrong, and I know it’s right. Even if I try to win the fight, my heart would overrule my-”_

_CLICK_

_“Stay with me now I’m facing my last solemn-”_

_CLICK_

Keith groaned and rested his head against the desk. He hated this. He was trying to find a song to send to Lance that he might like to hear. Every sound file sounded like shit to him. It was awful. Lance was going to make fun of him. He was going to tease him, and laugh at him and share the sound file with everyone.

He hated this feeling. He trusted Lance, but he didn’t trust him. Lance could have been lying when he made promises to the Phantom. He didn’t want that to be the case but he knew it was a possibility. 

He sighed and looked up at the door. He could ask Shiro? He never talked to Shiro about his music… But he needed his opinion. Keith walked upstairs and went into the lounge room to see Shiro sitting on the couch in a tank top and those stupid tiny black running shorts. It looked like Shiro had just come back from a run.

“Sh-Shiro?” He called quietly. “C-can we talk?”

Shiro looked over at him and moved his legs off the couch. “Sure thing Keith. What’s up?”

Keith sat next to him and nervously played with a loose thread on his shirt. “I-I-I need help. I want Lance t-to hear me…” He could practically feel the excitement radiating off of Shiro. “C-can you help me pick a song?”

“Of course, but I feel like there’s more of a backstory to this.” Said Shiro. “You don’t just speak to anyone, let alone let them hear your music. Not even some of the people you’ve crushed on have been considered to hear you performing.”

“I know…” Muttered Keith. Feeling that he had used up all his words for the moment, he started to sign. _I like him. I like him a lot. He wants to hear me perform but I’m too embarrassed to pick anything. I think everything sucks, and you’re the only one that knows what I sound like when I perform._

Shiro nodded. “Yeah… I can see why you’re like this… But can I ask a question first?”

_Yes._

“How did it get to this point?” Asked Shiro. “Tell me everything.”

Keith frowned as he tried to think about how he was going to sign this across in a way to make Shiro not want to groan in embarrassment. _When I clean the theater I like to sing or play the piano when there is no one around. But I still get nervous so I raid the costumes and fine appropriate masks. Lance heard me one day and I kind of became his music teacher. I’m teaching him how to sing._

“... Wait, does he not know you’re you?”

_Lance is a lot of things, but smart is not one of them._

“Wow… Are you sure you like him?”

_He’s a little dense but he’s nice. He buys me doughnuts and wants to get to know me. I like that about him, but he might not actually like me for me. He might not like the Phantom either once he knows it’s me._

Shiro nodded a little. “Yeah, well he might be a little upset about it, but if he really likes you for you then he will quickly get over it, or not mind at all.”

Keith frowned and sighed. _I guess. Anyway, songs. What song do you like the most? I’ll give it to Lance. I trust you if you think it’s any good._

“Well, I have a few favourites.”

_Really? You don’t make things simple._

“Nope.” Shiro grinned and messed up Keith’s hair. “I have several songs I like because you sing so many different genres. What kind of music does Lance like? What music do you think represents you?”

_Shiro, you are no help._

“I’m telling the truth.” Said Shiro calmly. “You’re really talented. You could sing the Hokey Pokey and Lance would love it… Does he think that The Phantom is a terrible singer?”

_No._

“Then why should he think you’re bad at singing? You’re the same person dummy.”

Keith frowned at that. Shiro was right. No matter what song he gave to Lance he would like it. Maybe he would tell it was him? Like, the Phantom and him were the same person? Then again Lance had kind of proven himself to be stupid.

***

Around lunch time the next day at the theater, Lance had run out to get lunch. Maybe pick up some strawberries for Keith? If he saw him today. He should have been cleaning during the day today. He walked down to the local corner shop and grabbed a sandwich and some strawberry candies.

When he got back to the theater he saw Keith sitting outside playing on his phone. He grinned and walked over to him. “Hey Keith. What’s up?”

Keith looked a little surprised and waved at him. He then held up his phone and pointed to Lance.

“Oh, do you want my phone?”

Keith nodded and Lance handed it over. Keith quickly took it and quickly typed a few things into both their phones. He hesitated for a moment before he handed it back to Lance. Lance took his phone back and was surprised when he now had Keith’s phone number. Seconds later he saw a sound file pop up. **Symphony**

“Oh! Is this-?” A message quickly popped up

**Keith**   
_Please don’t play it now_   
_Can you please listen to this tonight when you’re home alone?_   
_I don’t want other people to hear it_   
_Please_

“... Oh. Alright.” He put his phone back into his pocket and smiled at him. “I’m sure your voice sounds lovely.” Keith’s face went bright red. It was cute. Lance handed Keith a bag of candy. “Here. I thought you might like this.”

Keith took the bag from him and quickly texted him;

**Keith**   
_You’re going to give me cavities at this rate_

“Aw, but they will be cute cavities.” Said Lance with a wink. That just made Keith blush more. Which made Lance grin. Kith was too cute when he blushed. “Anway, I was wondering if you want to hang out sometime after this is all over?”

**Keith**   
_What do you mean?_

“Well the musical is going to be on for like, less than a month and it’s going to be on for about a week, and then our theater group will be moving out until next year.” Said Lance. It seemed to take a moment for Keith to process this before he looked slightly disappointed and nodded. “So, I want to do things with you outside of the theater. Kind of like how we accidentally met up in the food court.”

**Keith**   
_Aren’t you and Allura dating?_

“... What?” Lance had to reread that text. “No? Allura’s just my friend. More like a big sister than anything else. Why? You jealous?”

Keith went bright red and quickly started texting him. It seemed like he was taking a while since he seemed to be typing for at least a minute before he sent it.

**Keith**   
_No._

Lance almost burst out laughing. It took him so long just to type that? That was adorable. “Anyway, we’ll talk later. I’m going to eat my lunch and go over some more of the speaking parts. Enjoy the candy.” He happily left Keith outside and went back inside to eat lunch with Pidge and Hunk.

***

Later that night when Lance came home he ended up in his room reading his lines again while still thinking about Keith. He was such a cute guy. He got flustered so easily and his blush was really adorable. He just wanted to hug him and give him more confidence.

Speaking of, he stuck his earbuds in and looked at the sound file Keith had sent him. Now it was Lance’s turn to be hesitant. Keith was a very private guy and this was very personal to him. It could just be him playing the piano for all Lance knew. If it was then he would have loved it anyway. If he could hear Keith humming along to the music it would be enough for him.

He was sure that Keith would sound nice no matter what he did. Shiro was praising him before. Then again it could have just been because he was his brother. Siblings did sometimes hype up the other.

Lance felt kind of nervous and hit the play button. His ears were treated to lovely piano music. He assumed that this was just going to be some classical music piece until he heard Keith;s voice.

 _“I’ve been hearing symphonies, before all I heard was silence. A rhapsody for you and me and every melody is timeless…”_ Keith’s voice was beautiful, and kind of familiar, but Lance couldn’t quite place why it sounded familiar. He almost entertained the idea that maybe Keith was a secret voice actor. That would have been funny. He listened to the song all the way through and held onto the last line as he looked up at the ceiling. _“Will you hold me tight and not let go?”_

Lance played it a few more times. As he did he liked to imagine a little music video kind of thing in his mind. He might have been a bit of a sap, but he liked to imagine a story line where he and Keith were the main actors in a play just running around their feelings for each other. It was silly and cheesy but he liked it. After the fourth playthrough of the song he texted Keith

**Lance**   
_Your singing is amazing_

**Keith**   
_You don’t have to lie to spare my feelings_   
_I know it’s not that good._

**Lance**   
_???_   
_Your voice is really amazing._   
_I’m not lying to you._   
_Who told you your voice is bad?_   
_I’ll fight them!_   
_(ง• ³•)ง_

**Keith**   
_No one_   
_I just don’t like how I sound._

**Lance**   
_I think you sound really good!_

**Keith**   
_Just no._   
_I’m not that good_   
_Please don’t tell me how good you think I am_   
_I’m not._   
_Please change the subject_

**Lance**   
_Okay fine_   
_Question for you._

**Keith**   
_Yeah?_

**Lance**   
_Will you hold me tight and not let go?_

Keith left Lance on read. Lance started to panic. He fucked up. He was just teasing him with the song lyric. He didn’t mean to scare Keith away like that. He knew that Keith was awkward and the song lyric could be taken as a confession or something, but still he didn’t want that to be his way of asking Keith out. He wanted Keith to be a little more comfortable around him first.

**Keith**   
_Like a love song on the radio_

Lance grinned and suddenly felt relieved. Keith responded with a lyric. It was good. Everything was fine. It was all gucci. Keith wasn’t too weirded out by his antics. Things were still good between them.

**Lance**   
_:D_

**Keith**  
 _:)_  
.


	9. Dinner

For the hundredth time that week Keith contemplated posting his covers online. Shiro and Lance liked his voice, so maybe other people would too? Maybe… But then again he was pretty sure that strangers would just rip into him and let him know how shitty he actually sounded. He sighed and shut off his computer. He’d think more about it tomorrow.

Suddenly his phone started to buzz. Keith was a little surprised. Usually Adam and Shiro wouldn’t bother texting him unless something big happened. He quickly looked over the text and was surprised to see that it was Lance.

**Lance**   
_Entertain me._

**Keith**   
_???_

**Lance**   
_I am booooooerd_   
_Today is like the second last rehearsal before the curtain drops and Coran’s making us stay late!_   
_I finished all my stuff!_   
_My feet hurt!_   
_(╯ ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)╯┻━┻_

Keith rolled his eyes and rolled onto his stomach. Of course Lance was texting him because he was bored and his feet hurt. How was he meant to entertain him? Send him gifs? But then again, why should he entertain Lance?

**Keith**   
_And how is this my problem?_

**Lance**   
_Because I am making it your problem_   
_( ‾ʖ̫‾)_   
_So you’re on night duty tonight?_   
_Want me to swing by when you finish up?_   
_We can get dinner together :D_   
_Do you like Japanese food? I know this awesome place where you order everything on an iPad. Never have to talk to someone unless it’s to get seated or to get the bill._

Keith could feel a small ball of anxiety settling in his stomach. Lance wanted to have dinner with him. But Keith didn’t go out to have dinner anywhere. Ever. He couldn;t talk to anyone. Everyone would hate him. The waiters would judge him. They would want him to leave right away. But if the place was really a place where you could order everything on an iPad then maybe could?

**Keith**   
_Shiro is Japanese._

**Lance**   
_So… Is that a no?_   
_Yes?_   
_Maybe?_

**Keith**   
_I like Japanese food._   
_How the fuck do you type so fast?!_

**Lance**   
_It is a gift._   
_So you want to have dinner with me?_   
_:D_

**Keith**   
_Yes_

**Lance**   
_ʢ◉ᴥ◉ʡ_

What the actual fuck was that emoji? Was Keith so out of touch with everything that he didn’t know what it was? Was it positive? Negative? He had no idea. It looked like it was just staring into his soul.

**Keith**   
_What the fuck does that even mean?_

**Lance**   
_ʢ◉ᴥ◉ʡ_

**Keith**   
_Changed my mind._   
_I’m going straight home after work_

**Lance**   
_\\(@ᗝ@)/_   
_NOOOO!_   
_I was just joking!_   
_Please have dinner with me!_   
_Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!!!_

**Keith**   
_JFC Fine!_

He could just imagine Lance’s stupid puppy dog eyes just begging him to go out to dinner with him. Lance invited him to dinner, and Keith said yes. Oh lord he was going to go on a date with Lance. No, not really. He wasn’t going on a date with Lance. He was just going to hang out with him. Just friends having dinner

**Lance**   
_Yay!_   
_(づᵔ ³ᵔ)づ_   
_I’ll be at the theater around 8:30pm_

**Keith**   
_Okay_

**Lance**   
_See you there!_   
_Talk to you later. Coran’s talking now._

Keith stared at his phone for what felt like forever. He had no idea what to do now. He was going to meet up with Lance for dinner. This had to be just a friend thing. Totally not a date. Right? No, this was just a friend thing. Keith didn’t really have friends so this was all really new to him. He sighed and quickly texted Shiro.

**Keith**   
_I think I might be going on a date with Lance?_

**Shiro**   
_Really?_   
_That’s awesome!_

**Keith**   
_Thanks._   
_I don’t think it’s actually a date though?_   
_We’re going out for dinner after I finish work tonight_

**Shiro**   
_What?_   
_No! You’re not working tonight!_   
_You’re spending the rest of the day getting ready for your date/friend dinner thing!_   
_This is a big deal!_   
_Enjoy getting ready Keith!_

**Keith**   
_?????_   
_Shiro?_   
_What the fuck?_   
_..._   
_Are you ignoring me?!_   
_You get back here you one armed bitch!_   
_Don’t you leave me on read!_

***

Lance happily stood outside the theater as he waited for Keith. He thought going to that Japanese restaurant with the iPads was a good start with him. Minimal human interaction and the food was fucking amazing. 

He was waiting for Keith to show up. He hoped that Keith still wanted to go and wasn’t going to back out. He looked up at the door and at the fence. Would Keith bring a change of clothes? Maybe. He kind of hoped so. His work overalls did kind of smell like chemicals… But if he didn’t have a change of clothes that was okay. As long as Keith was comfortable that’s all that mattered.

He looked back at the fence and saw Keith. He was wearing a red crop top jacket with one hell of a popped collar, a black shirt, skinny jeans, and boots. Keith also tied his hair back into a low ponytail. He looked good.

“Oh hey Keith. Not working today?” Asked Lance. Keith shook his head and quickly shot him a text.

**Keith**   
_Shiro told me to take the day off._

“Cool, well let’s get to my car and I’ll drive us there.” Said Lance. Keith nodded in agreement and they got into Lance’s car. He let Keith pick the radio station as they drove. Keith seemed to like the stations that played techno music. Not something Lance would listen to unless he was at a club, but he could respect it.

They eventually got to the restaurant and were lucky enough to get a table a little tucked away from everyone else. Keith seemed to like this and relaxed a little as he looked at the iPad. It took him a few moments before he handed it over to Lance, and Lance quickly ordered what he usually ordered.

He looked over the order and smiled at what Keith ordered. “Tsukimi soba? That’s the one with the raw egg in it, right?” Keith nodded and took his phone out.

**Keith**   
_Yes. Shiro tries to make it in autumn but he isn’t that good at cooking_   
_He can make the noodles for soba, but when it comes to cooking it, it either burns or turns into one matted mess._

“Ah, sounds kind of bad. But at least he’s trying?”

**Keith**   
_True. Adam takes care of most of the cooking._

Keith looked at the food that was getting cooked and hummed a little when he saw what Lance had ordered. Lance was glad to see his choices seemed to be Keith approved.

**Keith**   
_Are you going to eat all the gyoza and takoyaki yourself?_

“Nah, that’s for sharing.” Said Lance. “Whenever I come here with my sisters or with Pidge we get a lot of that stuff.” He poured both himself and Keith some water. “I hope you like pork gyoza.”

Keith happily nodded and gestured to the iPad again. Lance gestured for him to go ahead and do what he wanted. Keith ordered edamame. Lance didn’t usually eat those beans, but he was more than happy to let Keith do what he wanted.

The edamame, gyoza and takoyaki came out first. The two of them happily snacked on each thing. Lance burnt his mouth on a takoyaki. Keith snickered at him and burnt his mouth on a gyoza. They were both fools but Lance was having fun. Even if conversation was a little sparse with Keith at the moment, it was fun. Just being around the mute man made Lance feel happy. He hoped that Keith felt the same way too.

They got their ramen and soba relatively quickly after they burned the hell out of their mouths. Keith seemed very content to eat his food. It was a lot different from when they were at the food court and Keith could hardly eat his own food.

Lance eventually started to talk a little bit about the theater and how he things were going. “There’s like, only two more days until we start performing. Ah, I’m so excited… Hope I don’t screw it up…”

**Keith**   
_Don’t doubt yourself._   
_You’re very good._

Lance smiled as he read the texts. “Aw thanks Keith. You’re really sweet.” Keith blushed a little and quickly ate some more of his soba. “Aw, don’t be like that Keith… Keith? I’m really glad you came out with me.” That made the other pause and gave him a confused look. “Like, I was pretty sure you would tell me that you were too tired to come out or that you just didn’t want to. I would have been perfectly okay if you didn’t want to, but yeah… I’m glad that you came out here with me.

Keith paused for a moment and quickly typed out something on his phone, but hesitated sending it. He kept glancing up at Lance and then back at his own screen. He looked like he was having some kind of internal struggle before he finally hit send, before he quickly looked away. Lance looked down at his phone and was kind of stunned when he looked down at the message.

**Keith**   
_Is this a date?_

Lance didn’t really know what to say to that. He kind of wanted it to be a date. He had an interest in Keith, but he didn’t know if Keith wanted that too. Keith looked kind of hopeful but also kind of scared. Lance wasn’t too sure what to say.

“Um… It all depends…” He muttered. Keith gave him a confused look and signed something that Lance interpreted him as Keith asking him to explain himself. “... Are you gay?”

Keith frowned a little and nodded. He quickly took out his phone.

**Keith**   
_Yes. Is that bad?_

“What? No Keith. Of course not.” Said Lance quickly. He reached over the table and quickly grabbed Keith’s hand before quickly letting it go. “Sorry! I um… What I mean is… I’m bisexual. I like you… Do you like me?”

The man sitting across from him went bright red and quickly texted something before putting the phone down and put his face in his hands. He looked like he was ready for the world to swallow him whole.

**Keith**   
_I like you too._

Lance grinned from ear to ear. Poor Keith was still too embarrassed to look at him. This was now officially a date in Lance’s mind. A relatively successful one too. He picked up the iPad and quickly ordered a little dessert for the two of them. Keith peeked out from between his fingers and stared at Lance. He looked mildly concerned.

“Oh, do you want a... what’s it called? Daifuku aisu? I think they are mochi ball things? They do strawberry stuff. It’s nice.” Said Lance. “And strawberries are something you like, right?”

Keith smiled slightly and nodded. It was cute. They happily finished the rest of their food and then their dessert when it came. They split the bill and walked back to Lance’s car. Lance let Keith pick the radio station again and Keith picked a station that was playing Spanish pop songs.

Lance happily sang along to them in his native tongue. In the quieter parts he heard Keith humming along. He wasn’t sure if Keith knew a lick of Spanish, but he could still enjoy the music. He wanted to ask Keith more about his music and if he could send him more sound files. Hell, he wanted to know why Keith had such anxiety about performing in front of everyone.

They pulled up in front of Keith’s house and Keith quickly texted Lance.

**Keith**   
_Thank you._   
_I had a really good time_

“I’m glad you had fun.” Said Lance. “We should do it again. Like, when the musical is over… We’re having a big after party at this all you can eat buffet place. Like, I’m sure if I talk to Coran about it he would be more than happy to make sure that there’s a place for you too.”

**Keith**   
_I work after the show is over_   
_I’ll be working most of the night._

“Oh… Really? You can’t do it tomorrow?”

**Keith**   
_I’m scheduled to work that night. Sorry._

“Oh… Well that’s okay… We can still hang out after, right?” Asked Lance. “We’re boyfriend’s now.”

Keith paused for a moment and nodded. He looked happy but still kind of embarrassed. He awkwardly reached over and gently squeezed his hand. It was nice and Lance squeezed back. This was nice. Keith suddenly looked down at his phone and sighed.

**Keith**   
_Shiro’s asking when I’m coming inside._

Lance chuckled a little and smiled. “It’s fine. I’ll text you when I’m free.”

Keith nodded and got out of the car. Before he closed the door he leaned in and awkwardly kind of stared at him for a while. “G-goodnight Lance.” He quickly closed the door and practically ran back inside.

Lance just sat there in shock. “Goodnight Keith.” He was about to pull out onto the road when he froze. Keith just spoke to him.


	10. Curtains up

The Phantom hit the last note and held it for as long as he could. He smiled over at Lance. “And with that, that’s the end of our music lessons.” He said.

Lance grinned. “Heck yeah! You’ve been a huge help.”

“Don’t mention it. Just remember to stay away from anything with lactose an hour or so before the performance and remember to warm up with vocal exercises before you go on.” Said The Phantom. “You’re going to do so well.”

Lance chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. “Aw, thanks man. You’re the real star here. If it wasn’t for you I’d still be mediocre.”

They chuckled and grinned. “You’ll do fine. I look forward to seeing you perform.”

Lance grinned. “Aw, thanks man. So you’re going to see it?”

“Yes.”

“That’s awesome.”

The Phantom smiled at him as they adjusted their mask ever so slightly. “I really want to see how all that hard work has been paid off… What are you going to do after all this?”

Lance shrugged. “Well, mama’s probably going to put me back on evening shifts at the coffee shop. She’ll probably ask if I want to get a degree in something again. I’m good with just selling coffee. Never really been too interested in anything other than musical theater… Also gotta plan a good date for my boyfriend.”

“Oh? You have a boyfriend now?” Asked The Phantom. “Anyone I know.”

“Keith.”

“The Janitor?” Asked the Phantom. He chuckled a little and started to pack up the sheet music on the piano. “You can do better than him.”

Lance rolled his eyes, instantly unimpressed. “Seriously? You’re one of those people? You don’t even know him. Sure he’s quiet, but I know he is trying and I like him a lot. Keith’s really sweet… I’m trying to get better at sign language for him. He deserves someone that can understand him without having to read his texts all the time.”

The Phantom seemed surprised. “I didn’t mean it like that… and yeah, I guess I’m not very… I don’t really know him that well… I was just wondering what the two of you have in common. The man is very introverted and you, you’re clearly not.”

Lance shrugged and sat on the edge of the stage. “I just like him. Keith is sweet… I’m just having trouble trying to figure out what he might like to do for a date. Literally the first three things that came to my mind here; themepark, going shopping, and hanging out at my house…”

“The last one doesn’t sound too bad.”

Lance chuckled a little. “Keith doesn’t seem to do well around lots of new people. I currently live with my parents and twin sister. My older sister and older brothers come on and out of the house all the time and so do my nieces and nephews… I think meeting too many people at once might upset him.”

The Phantom sat next to Lance and tapped his fingers against the side of the stage. “That’s very considerate of you… He’ll appreciate anything you do with him.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah… Someone like him… He probably would appreciate just spending time with you.” Said The Phantom. “I liked spending time with you.”

Lance smiled at him and lightly nudged his shoulder. “I liked spending time with you too. Have I earned the chance to know what your name is? Maybe see your face?”

The Phantom froze up and looked away from him. “Um… Listen, I liked listening to you sing but I… I can’t just… I’m sorry.”

Lance sighed sadly. He knew better then to try and push someone that was introverted and guarded. If the Phantom didn’t want him to tell him who he was then well… It’s not like Lance could force him to. Though he did feel like he kind of earned his trust. Lance got up and grabbed his bag that he just tossed onto one of the front row seats.

“Later Phantom… I guess I might see you around.”

“Yeah. See you around Lance.” Said The Phantom quietly. “Lance I… I know you’re going to do well. I’ll be watching you.”

Lance smiled a little and waved at him. “Later.” He left the theatre.

***

Keith groaned in annoyance. He should have taken his mask off and told Lance that he was The Phantom. That he was the one that Lance was getting singing lessons from. He wanted to tell him. Fuck he really wanted to, but he couldn’t. He was too anxious and scared.

If Lance knew that he was Keith, then he might break up with him for tricking him for so long. It was scary. No one had ever asked him to be his boyfriend before. He doubted that anyone in highschool even considered dating him even in a joking manner. He was really scared that Lance would get angry that he couldn’t talk to him without a stupid mask. That he had to pretend to be someone else to interact with him.

Keith quickly packed everything up, finished cleaning and waited outside for Shiro to come and pick him up. His brother pulled up and Keith got in. Shiro could immediately tell that something was wrong with his little brother.

“Is everything okay?” He asked.

“Lance…” Muttered Keith.

“Didn’t you say you two were dating now?” Asked Shiro. “Oh… did he have second thoughts?”

“No…” Said Keith quietly. “D-didn’t want to keep pretending I’m s-someone else… Couldn’t do it. Coward…”

“You’re not a coward.” Said Shiro calmly. “I get that you feel bad not being able to tell him you’ve been giving him singing lessons, but it could be a lot worse? Like, Lance could have asked your phantom persona out?”

“Yeah…” Keith sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. Opening night was the next day, but Lance would be performing during the first matinee performance the day after. He wanted to see Lance perform it first. He didn’t care if the leading lady was Allura or Nyma. He wanted to see Lance performing as Bert. He wanted to be a supportive boyfriend.

Speaking of being supportive, should he be getting Lance a gift for finishing his first performance? He had seen some people give flowers. But they usually gave flowers to the girls. He didn’t know what to get Lance, or if he should get him anything. Would Lance be upset if he didn’t get him anything? He didn’t want Lance to be upset with him. He wanted Lance to be happy with him. 

Yeah, he knew it was a stretch asking for someone to actually like him the way Lance seemed to like him. He was pushing his luck, but he wanted Lance to stay with him and not for like a few weeks and then get tired of him because he was an anxious mess. Maybe he should consider seeing a therapist or something?

“Are you okay there Keith?” Asked Shiro.

Keith shrugged. “I.. I want to get a gift… For Lance.”

“Oh? For after his performance?” Asked Shiro. Keith nodded. “That’s a really good idea. You have no idea what to get him, do you.”

“N-not a clue.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Said Shiro. “It’ll be nice. He’ll love whatever you give him.”

Keith nodded and nervously played with a thread on his shirt. He didn’t know what Lance would like. Maybe he’d like something related to the musical? An umbrella with a parrot head handle? He had no idea where to even get one of those. Maybe he could find a nice looking pin online? But that might take too long to get shipped to him. It was annoying. He had no idea what to do. Lance was… He was perfect.

***

The first evening show went off without a hitch to rave reviews. Allura and Lotor knocked it out of the park again. It made Lance feel a little nervous. It was hard to live up to those expectations. Everyone loved those two. Nyma gave him a quick pep talk and well, it kind of worked. 

He psyched himself up for the stage and it surprisingly worked. Lance was acting on adrenaline the whole time. He was worried he was going to mess up, but Lance did pretty well. He loved the adrenaline that pumped through his veins when the lights were on him. 

He happily sang and spun Nyma around, linked arms with the other chimney sweeps during the big “Step in time” number. It was a lot of fun. That adrenaline buzz didn’t even when it was all over and the actors were taking a bow.

Lance was still riding that high when he walked off stage and went to change out of his costume. Before he left he happened to see Keith nervously standing to the side in his janitorial clothes. He looked like he was getting ready to clean up when everyone had cleared out. His eyes lit up a little when he saw Lance and he waved slightly.

Lance grinned and happily went over to him. “Hey Keith. Did you want it?”

Keith nodded and quickly signed a few things. Lance didn’t really know what he was saying, but he caught a few words; Good, like, voice, and happy. He didn’t really know the context of everything, but he felt like he enjoyed the performance. Keith then pushed a box into Lance’s hands. 

“Huh? Is this for doing a good job?” He asked. Keith nodded and Lance opened it up. It was a large mug that said; Practically Perfect in Every Way. Printed on the side. It even had a little parrot umbrella printed on it too. It was so cute. Lance grinned. “Aw Keith, I love it. Can I hug you?”

Keith went bright red at the request but nodded and opened his arms. Lance quickly went in for a hug. It was quick, but he gave Keith a quick squeeze. He felt Keith’s hands lightly touching his back too. It was nice. It was a soft and hesitant touch, but it was nice.

He quickly pulled back and grinned. “Look, I know it’s very sudden, and you can say no if you want, but my family’s gonna go out for lunch now, do you want to come with us?”

“...” Keith shook his head and gestured to the fact that he was wearing his uniform. Clearly intent on working right now instead of going with him.

Lance smiled at him. “No problem. I totally get it. Text me when you’re done with work? I wanna talk to you tonight.”

Keith smiled a little and nodded. He was too cute for his own good. Lance kind of wanted to squish his cheeks and kiss him, but he was pretty sure his boyfriend wouldn’t appreciate anymore PDA after getting hugged.

“Okay Keith. I’ll text you later.” He happily left backstage and almost dropped his mug when his niece and nephew ran into him. “Whoa, easy there!”

“Uncle Lance!” Squealed Nadia. “That was amazing! You were so good!”

“How did you do that little spinny thing?” Asked Sylvio.

His mama clapped her hands to get their attention. “Alright, leave your uncle alone. You can ask him all the questions you like at Lunch. Okay?” That seemed to placate the squealing adolescents for the moment and they started talking to their own mama about wanting to eat cake and burgers for lunch.

As that was happening, Lance’s sister, Veronica, came up behind him and looked at the mug. “What do you have there?”

“Hmm, just a present.” He said. 

“From who? Nyma for not stepping on her toes? Coran for singing in tune?” She teased.

“No I got it from my…” He quickly glanced over at his family, who were distracted by the kids and whispered to her. “My boyfriend.”

Veronica raised an eyebrow but kept her voice low. “Oh? Since when did this happen?”

“A few days ago. He’s a little shy and has anxiety. I want to slowly introduce him to the family because well...” He looked over at Marco who playfully slapped Rachel’s arm. Rachel then punched him in the arm. “That.”

“... Yeah, that’s fair enough.” Muttered Veronica. “Try and introduce him to mama and papi first.”

“Planning to.” Muttered Lance. “We’re going to do more couple things after the musical is over.”

“Sounds nice… Who is he? One of the theater guys?”

“He’s the Janitor.”

“Really?” Asked Veronica. “I thought the proper term was custodian?”

“... Probably. I should probably ask him what his job title is actually called.”

“Yeah, probably.” She wrapped her arm around Lance’s shoulder and grinned. “Well, enough about that. Let’s go and get some lunch! I want to get my hands on those tasty, tasty curly fries!”


	11. Walkdown

The final performance went off without a hitch. Allura and Lotor closed the show. Lance was happily cheering them on from backstage. After the show tonight the group was going to celebrate a successful production. It was going to be awesome. The whole crew would be there. These parties were always awesome. 

Lance just wished that Keith would be there too. But the poor man wouldn’t have been comfortable or had a good time. He probably would have just found a quiet corner and played on his phone the whole evening. Not fun at all for anyone.

“Hey man.” Said Hunk as he walked over to him.

Lance grinned and hugged his friend. “Hey man. Less than an hour left until we’re done.”

“Yep. Can’t wait. Man, I hope the buffet has that lemon chicken like they did last year.”

“Only reason you do this huh?”

Hunk laughed. “Yeah. Pidge says the only reason they do this is to get her hands on the chocolate mud cake they usually have there.”

Lance groaned and bit his bottom lip. “That cake is so good.” 

“Yeah. You and Keith are a thing now, right?”

Lance blushed. He hadn’t told anyone about it yet. It was still kind of early and he was pretty sure Keith would have freaked out if people knew. “How did you find out?”

“Oh, the other day Keith was talking to Pidge up in the sound booth and I might have caught some of the conversation…” Said Hunk. He looked slightly guilty. “I had my headphones on so I could do some sound check and I heard Pidge talking about Keith having a boyfriend… I was a little surprised, but I was happy for him. Then he finger spelled your name and showed Pidge the um… Darn, I don’t remember what it’s called exactly, but it’s like the shorthand version of your name? He used the sign for warmth. That was so sweet and adorable.”

Lance blushed. Warmth? That was so cute. And Keith was talking to Pidge about them being a thing? So did this mean he could tell people that they were a couple? It made him smile.

“Yeah, Keith and I are a couple. We only just got together a week before the musical started. We’re going to get more serious when this is all over.”

“That’s great. So is he going to come to the afterparty?”

Lance shrugged. “I don’t think so… He said he was going to be working tonight after the show…”

“Oh, that sucks.”

“Yeah, but it is what it is.” The audience started cheering and people were starting to bow. Everyone was happy and the chorus started to take their bows. People were happy, everyone was enjoying the spotlight. Lance happily clapped when Allura and Lotor went out to take their bows. The crowd went wild like they usually did for the golden couple.

When they came backstage, Lance congratulated Allura and several other people that he knew well. Everyone was excited and happy that it was over. Coran happily clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. 

“Alright everyone. You all have the address, right? Our reservation is in half an hour. Get your things and head over.” He said. Everyone that was going to go happily got their stuff together to leave. Others were going to just head off to be with their families. Lance had already informed his family he was going to head to the afterparty.

Though then again he did want to spend time with Keith. He didn’t think it would be right to let the poor janitor clean up the whole place by himself… But then again he was kind of expected to be at the party... 

Lance had a plan. He’d go there for about half an hour, grab some dinner for him and Keith to eat, and head back to the theater to have a cute little dinner date. It would be perfect. He was sure Keith would love it, and people would understand that he needed to go for one reason or another.

***

When everyone was gone, Keith set about cleaning up the theater. No one would be around so he put in his earbuds and happily cleaned up the stage area. After today the theater would be closed for a week before all the dance and music recitals would start up. So many small screeching kids and angry Karen’s harping on their precious babies. It was annoying but he could just keep to the shadows and no one talked to him.

Also, this meant that he and Lance were going to start taking their relationship seriously. They could go to… the library? A museum? He felt bad that he couldn’t do normal couple things with Lance. Maybe after a few sessions with a therapist he would be able to go to nice places with Lance.

The thought of being able to go to a theme park or out to the shops with Lance made him incredibly happy. It would be fun. He might not be able to talk, but he wanted to be able to be somewhere with Lance… Maybe if things went well then he could bring Lance back to his house? Watch some movies… Have dinner… Maybe do some stuff a little more… Physical…

Keith went red at that thought. He knew for sure that Lance would be more experienced than him in that department. He was a poor, nervous, virgin guy. He’d probably end up making a fool of himself. That thought gave him anxiety, but he had to squash those feelings. They were nowhere near that stage in their relationship yet. Plus he was pretty sure that Lance would be nice to him when the time came around. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy that would push him into doing something he wanted to.

He sighed a little and put his music onto shuffle to listen to something else rather than ambient music. He was quite happy to hear his Chicago playlist kicking in. He personally thought the story was a little trashy, but the music was fun. He was currently listening to Razzle Dazzle. It was a good song and something fun to sing along to as he mopped the stage,

 _“Razzle dazzle ‘em and they’ll never catch wise!”_ He sang. _“Give ‘em the old Razzle Dazzle. Razzle dazzle ‘em. Give ‘em a show that’s so splendiferous, row after row will crow vociferous.”_ He stared at the floor as he did a little spin. _“Give ‘em the old flim flam flummox. Fool and fracture ‘em. How can they hear the truth above the roar?”_

Keith smiled happily and continued to sing as he cleaned. Maybe one day he would be able to have a whole vocal conversation with Lance? Maybe they could sing together? That would be nice. Then maybe he’d be able to tell Lance that he was the Phantom and they could look back on that time and laugh? That would be nice. He’d love that.

 _“Though you are stiffer than a girder, they’ll let you get away with murder. Razzle dazzle ‘em, and got a roma-”_ Keith happened to glance up and his voice instantly died in his throat. Standing in the walkway was Lance. 

He was staring at Keith with wide eyes as his mouth moved like a fish out of water. Then Lance managed to find his voice. “Keith… You’re The Phantom?”

While Keith was glad it finally clicked in Lance’s head, he was scared. This was too early. Lance would feel betrayed. Lance would hate him. Lance did hate him. He had to. Keith dropped the broom and ran off stage. He quickly escaped into the costume room and hid behind a box. He was panicking. Lance was going to hate him. He was going to dump him. Lance was going to dump him and Keith wasn’t brave enough to try and speak up for himself. He started to rub at his eyes to try and stop himself from crying. It wasn’t working.

The door to the costume room suddenly opened up. “Keith?! Are you in here?”

Keith bit his bottom lip and hoped that Lance wouldn’t find him. That Lance wouldn’t tell him how much of a disappointment he was. He just wanted Lance to go away and leave him alone. He didn’t want Lance to tell him he never wanted to see him again. What if Lance was in the musical next year? Would Keith even be able to do his job? … Would he have to tell Shiro he could do it anymore? Then he’d have to hear how disappointed Shiro was in him too. He was quickly spiralling and didn’t know what to do.

“There you are.” Said Lance. He crouched down next to him. “Are you okay? … Oh shit, you’re having a panic attack aren’t you? Um… Deep breaths, try counting back from ten. Do it with me Keith, deep breath in, ten. Exhale, inhale, nine...” Lance continued to talk Keith through his instructions until Keith calmed down.

Keith was a lot calmer, but he was still really, really scared. Lance was going to break up with him. Maybe he would be mad enough about being lied to about who he was that he would hit him? He’d deserve it. Probably. If he hit him he hoped that it wouldn’t bruise anywhere Shiro or Adam could see. Lance might hate him now but Keith still liked him.

“Are you okay?” Asked Lance in a calm and concerned voice.

Keith shook his head and cautiously took out his phone. He wasn’t sure if Lance would snatch his phone away and try to make him speak. When he didn’t, Keith quickly sent him a message.

**Keith**   
_I’m sorry I lied to you. Please don’t hate me._

“Hate you?” Asked Lance. “Why would I hate you? Sure, I’m a little upset you didn’t tell me, but that’s also kind of on me… I am not that good at putting faces to voices… I know, kind of dumb, but if I’m not really paying them attention then I don’t really make the connections…”

**Keith**   
_I’m sorry. I should have told you it was me._

“It’s okay Keith. I understand.” Said Lance. “You um… You’re kind of anxious around other people, right? You just made up another persona to help me. Right?”

Keith nodded, he was glad that Lance understood what he was doing, but he knew that Lance wasn’t happy with him. This was the end of their very short relationship. Lying was a huge deal in relationships. He remembered Adam and Shiro getting into a fight about something stupid when they were younger. He forgot the specifics but someone had lied to someone about something.

**Keith**   
_You don’t have to be so nice. Just break up with me and go._

Lance read the message and was shocked. “What? Break up with you? No, no, no, no, no! Keith, I don’t want to break up with you. I still want to be your boyfriend… But I think we need to talk…” He passed Keith the half skull mask and smiled slightly. “If you’re more comfortable to talk while wearing this…”

***

The two of them ended up sitting on the stage. Keith was wearing the mask and they were eating some takeout Vietnamese food that Lance got on the way there. Wearing the mask really seemed to help Keith relax enough to talk. Maybe they should invest in a mask that was less elaborate or something? Thoughts for later.

This wasn’t really the kind of romantic dinner date Lance wanted to have, but he was okay with it. He didn’t really feel betrayed that Keith never told him he was the Phantom, he was just surprised that Keith felt the need to do this.

“Yeah… So can I ask you some questions?” Asked Lance.

Keith nodded. “Yeah, but I am pretty sure you want to ask me why I don’t talk…”

“Um, yeah…” Muttered Lance.

“... When I was younger I was in and out of a lot of foster homes.” Said Keith quietly as he picked at his mi quang. “The last home I went to before I went to live with Shiro strongly believed in the old saying that children should be seen and not heard… They were ultra conservative and they… They believed in corporal punishment… The only way things could get done around the house was if I didn’t talk so I just stopped doing it in front of people… I stopped playing music around the same time too because well… I couldn’t practice at that place. They even broke that shitty plastic recorder they made us play at school. Blamed me for breaking it too.”

That was heartbreaking. Lance didn’t want to pry more into Keith’s personal life before he was ready. This was a good enough explanation for now. “So, how did you pick up ASL?”

“Shiro’s dad is deaf.” Said Keith. “Me being mute made it hard to communicate so he taught me how to sign. It was good. I was finally able to talk to people without having to use my voice… I’ve got a lot of internalised self hatred because of my voice…”

“I understand… You know what Keith? I still don’t want to break up with you.” Said Lance. “I care too much about you to do that.”

“... Really? But I lied to you.”

“Do you think I can’t sing?” Asked Lance.

Keith seemed surprised. “What? No. You’re a really good singer. A good actor too.”

“Yeah? Do you think I deserved the lead roll?”

“Yes! You’re amazing! Please don’t doubt yourself!” Said Keith quickly. “I wanted to help you refine your voice and get better at what you obviously love doing!”

“Then you didn’t lie to me.” Said Lance. “Well, you only lied a little, but you didn’t lie about that stuff, right? You were just helping me out in your own special, Keith way. Right?”

“Yeah... You’re way too nice to me.” Said Keith quietly. “I lied to you and pretended to be someone I’m not… Don’t you hate me? I… I’m a bad person.”

“You’re not a bad person.” Reassured Lance. “You’re just a little awkward… and I’m really glad you helped me… I wouldn’t be nearly as good if it wasn’t for you.”

Keith looked confused. “Really?”

“Yeah, really.” He gently squeezed Keith’s hand and smiled at him. “It’s okay. When you’re done eating, wanna stop at the gas station? I heard that they sell the doughnuts at half price after nine. We could get away with so many.”

“You really like doughnuts, don’t you?”

“They taste really, really good.” Whined Lance. “Are you going to see someone about your trauma?”

Keith nodded. “I’m looking around at the moment. I’ll find someone soon.”

“Nice.” Lance leaned over and kissed Keith’s cheek. Keith squeaked in surprise, but smiled at him. He was happy. They were happy. Everything was going to be okay.

***

Around half a year later Keith and Lance were still going strong. Keith had found a therapist a month after the musical ended and he’d made a lot of progress. Keith was starting to give quick, one to two word answers to cashiers. It was a huge step for him. Lance had been supporting him a lot too in Keith’s musical endeavours.

He managed to convince Keith to let him start a Youtube channel where Lance would upload Keith’s covers. Keith didn’t want to read the comments, but Lance was more than happy to read off the nice comments.

“Oh! Have you covered any Taylor Swift?” Asked Lance one afternoon as he lounged on Keith’s bed. Keith himself was tuning his guitar on the floor.

“No.” He said quietly. “I don’t think so… I’d need to check.”

Lance hummed a little and continued to scroll through the comments. “... Anything by MCR? Maybe Panic? I’d love to hear you sing Emperor's New Clothes. That would be hot.”

Keith blushed and looked up at him. “Y-you think so?”

“Yeah. I think so.” Lance reached over and lightly ruffled his hair. “You have very cute hair babe.”

Keith blushed and ducked away from his hand. “I’ll think about it.”

Lance grinned and put his phone down. “Hey Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too. Are you going to be in the musical again this year?”

“Yeah. they’re doing Grease this year.” He said. “Heard Lotor’s not going to be able to do it this year. Something about being out of the country for work or something? I don’t know. Means I have a good shot at being the male lead again this year.”

“I’m rooting for you.”

“Aw, thanks Keith.” He leaned over the side of the bed and happily kissed him. Keith kissed back and they grinned at each other. Yeah, the two of them were in this for the long run.


End file.
